What You Became
by RogerShanksLuffy
Summary: Fairy Tail's Next Generation travels back in time to the year X793 seeking help against a new enemy that has turned their entire guild against them and is now hunting them down. Sequel to Empress of Alvarez. Rated M for Violence and Language, plus maybe a bit of sexual content.
1. Back in Time

**FULL DISCLOSURE:**

 **THIS IS A SEQUEL TO EMPRESS OF ALVAREZ. If you haven't read that first, there are spoilers and a lot of concepts that you won't fully understand without being familiar with it.**

 **In case you guys are new to my work, I go to school for Film Scoring, and as such, in many of my longer and more intricate stories, I list soundtracks at the beginning of each chapter and a corresponding scene that they go with. While it's not necessary, I strongly recommend that you look up and listen to them while reading, to give more of an emotional feel to that scene. This story in particular will use My Hero Academia and Fire Emblem soundtracks rather frequently.**

 **I don't expect this to be close to as long as Empress. I'm predicting about 12 chapters or so. Without further ado, enjoy!**

 **Songs**

 **Fighting and Time Travel: APETITAN (Attack on Titan OST)**

 **Nightmares: Yonaka ni Kiku to Kowai (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **The Guild: Sea Winds and Travelers (Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia OST)**

 **Exploring Magnolia: Rinkan Gasshuku (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Attack in the City: Villain Invasion (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Future Gray: Endeavor no Chikara (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Future Gray vs. Fairy Tail: Honki de Tatakitsubusu Shozon (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Storm and Nashi Arrive: Tori ni Iku (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Storm and Nashi vs. Future Gray: Koutekishu to Kaite "Tomo" to Yomu (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Nova Arrives: Mecha Meke Meke (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Nova vs. Future Gray: Sanmiittai (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Lightning Soul Nova vs. Future Gray: Jet Set Run (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Post-Battle Collapse: Heiwa no Shouchou no Kyuusoku (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Who they really are: Childhood Memories (Naruto OST)**

 **Re-Introductions: Main Theme 2016 (Fairy Tail OST)**

 **X814**

"How much longer?! We're running out of magic power!"

"We just have to wait until Nova pushes them back far enough so she can help us!"

"Nova's not as strong as her! Do you really think she'll be able to do that!"

"You don't know how strong she can really be, Reiki. Don't worry, she'll do it."

Above them, flashes of lightning streamed across the night sky, so fast that no one could see what it really was. There continued to be collisions across the sky, until finally a blonde-haired girl was sent falling towards the ground, recovering by using her magic. The other force sped down and landed across from her.

"Hrghh…"

"What part of this seemed like a good idea to you? You know that you're no match for me."

"You clearly haven't been paying very much attention, have you? Why do you think I'm the only one fighting you?"

"Because you have a personal vendetta against me and you're merely buying time for your friends to use a time travel spell." Nova gritted her teeth.

"Clearly I'm correct by your reaction. You're trying to do what I did to get help. But they can't use the spell without your magic power. And they won't be getting it anytime soon. I'll beat you so senseless that you can't even move, and then kill all of your friends right in front of you."

"You monster...Rin and Sylvia are only ten years old. Would you really kill children for your own satisfaction?" She growled.

"Of course I would. The thought of it excites me. I can't wait to lick the blood off their corpses." Her opponent cackled.

"Lightning Dragon's Roar!" She gathered electricity in her mouth and fired a beam at her, rushing off to the others behind the guild.

"Nova! What happened?!"

"There's no time! We have to go now!" Nova added her own magic power to their circle, and finally a pillar of blue light engulfed them, and they soon after disappeared. Everything became quiet once they were gone.

Another figure jumped down to where their enemy got hit.

"Now what do we do?"

"They went back in time. We'll follow them, there's nothing else for us here."

"Are you sure that's wise? We don't want to mess up the past and change the future, right?"

"Are you questioning my orders, Erza?" The intimidating figure grasped her throat and began choking her not even a second later.

"N-No…." she whimpered.

"Good. You'd do well to remember what I've already done before wondering if I'm in the right." She was dropped, and Erza began coughing, glancing up at her superior.

"But first, let's grab a few things." They grinned evilly, heading back towards the city.

 **X**

 _Her home in flames. Corpses littered across the guild. Her friends, her family, fighting against her. And one person standing over the rest of them._

" _Come now, Nova. Come join us."_

" _I will never join you, trash!" Nova was swiftly beaten by her enemy, sent flying through the guild, surrounded by the burning fire. "They" Walked through the entrance, not minding the blaze at all._

" _I don't see why you're still resisting. Everyone that you care about is already on our side. Why fight against all of us on your own?" They bent down and held her face in their hands._

" _It doesn't matter to me how many people you have with you. I will never join you, you inhuman filth! I won't stop until you suffer in the ninth circle of Tartarus for what you've done!" Not a moment later, she was slammed into the wall and choked, feeling her consciousness fading. The last thing she saw was that malevolent smile and that look of madness and disdain in their eye._

" _I'm really getting sick of that rude mouth of yours. Is that any way to talk to your-?"_

"GHHHH-!" Nova flung herself awake, sitting up immediately. Trying to regain control of her breathing, she kept telling herself that it was a night terror, not a memory. The situation hadn't escalated that much yet….Yet. Why did she have to use that word?

Finally calming down, she fell back against the bed and laid her head on the pillows. Wait, bed? Pillows? Where was she? What happened? She looked around, seeing a window to her left with the curtains closed and an armchair next to the bed. Over on the wall, her coat was hanging up, with her shoes below, neatly lined up on the floor. To the right were other beds, filled with familiar faces.

"Guys? Hey, guys. Wake up." She called softly, the others slowly coming to.

"Mmm...Nova, what happened?" Nashi asked.

"I don't know. I don't remember anything past that light."

"Me neither."

"Hey, you guys are finally awake!" A voice called out, opening the door. A beautiful young woman with long blue hair walked in, the others' eyes widening.

"How are you feeling?" They all looked over to Nova for guidance.

"A little sore, I guess, but fine otherwise." Her eyes softened a bit. "If you don't mind, could you tell us where we are?"

"Oh, of course! This is Fairy Tail, the mages guild! My name is Juvia. Juvia Lockser! If you guys are really feeling up to it, come downstairs and meet everyone else. We'll tell you what happened and get you fed too."

"Thank you, Juvia. We'll be right down." She smiled and nodded at them, closing the door again. The kids sat in silence before Sylvia spoke up.

"Mommy's so pretty!"

"Sylvia, keep it down!" Nova hushed her. "Didn't you notice how much younger she looked? Clearly Nyx's time travel spell worked. We're in the past. And she also used her maiden name, meaning that she hasn't married your dad yet. We don't even know if they're engaged yet, or even dating. We can't let them know who we are, or we'll risk changing the past!"

"Changing it how?" Nashi asked.

"Haven't you ever seen any sci-fi movies? If we tell our parents who we are before we're even born, we risk them not falling in love and getting married, and then we cease to exist! We can't let that happen, it would also erase our own timeline. So for the time being, don't reveal your last name to any of them, and don't ask any stupidly obvious questions like 'What year is it?' We'll find out on our own."

"Hey, where'd Storm go?" Rin asked, causing them to realize that a blank space now occupied where he previously was. Nova dashed out of the room and saw him down the hall, speaking to Juvia again.

"What year is it?"

'That little dumbass!'

"Huh? It's X793. Did you guys really get hurt so bad that you can't remember the year?" She asked, pressing her hand to his forehead.

"Ah, yeah. It's all coming back to me now though. Thanks." He nodded at her and jogged back into the infirmary. Nova grabbed him by his collar and brought him back inside.

"What did I just say?!"

"To not use our last names or we risk our existence, yeah, yeah."

"I also said to not ask any stupid questions that would give us away. Like that one!"

"Hey, she took it well, though. She thought we hit our heads is all."

"Well, don't do anything else like that. We want to be cautious for a while. Remember, we still don't know if your mom is dating your dad yet."

"She said X793, right? They should be. They got together shortly after Olympus, remember?"

"Ah, that means my parents are already together, too! And maybe even engaged!" Nashi cheered.

"Mine too…" Nova murmured. "I guess we should get downstairs to see the others." She walked over to the wall and grabbed her coat, slinging it over her shoulders. Heading downstairs, they saw the guild full of other members, and all of their parents sitting with each other. Nova briefly locked eyes with her mother before looking away quickly.

"Ah, there you all are!" Mira said cheerfully, the others going and sitting at a table together. Nova stood nearby, leaning against the stairwell.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better, I guess." She began to scan her eyes around the room, first focusing on their hands. She spotted her mother's engagement ring, a black titanium band with a large purple diamond and a circle of white sapphires around it, already resting on her finger. Nova sighed in relief. She glanced over at the others, also seeing rings on all of the other couples as well: Kinana's ring, a gold band with two heart shaped gemstones facing opposite ways on top, one an emerald and the other a garnet, separated by three small white diamonds, also adorned her finger.

Natsu also had his own ring, a gold band with a large ruby and a circle of diamonds around it on his. Nova almost forgot, Lucy was the one who proposed to him.

Juvia's, Levy's, and Erza's rings were also on their own fingers. I guess they didn't have to worry so much about their parents falling out of love.

The next thing she focused on was their outfits and appearances. Most of them looked to be around 19 or 20, about their age, maybe a tad bit older. Most of them still wore their regular outfits back from when they fought against Alvarez. The only two exceptions seemed to be Natsu and Mirajane.

Natsu, following Olympus, had chosen to remain with his outfit while there: black pants, a black shirt, and a red and gold flame patterned jacket. He had stopped wearing his scarf.

Mira wore the outfit that Hemera gave her following her training: black boots, orange leggings, an orange corset, a long black coat, and a royal blue side cape draped over her left shoulder. She also no longer had a front ponytail, leaving her hair down, and growing her bangs out again.

'I haven't seen her wear that outfit in a long time...Wow...I forgot how beautiful she is…' Nova had a faint shade of pink on her cheeks as Mira smiled at her.

"So...would you mind telling us a little bit about yourselves? Like who you are and where you're from? How you got here?" Lucy asked.

"Well...I'm afraid we can't tell you where we're from or how we got here. It's not really something I feel comfortable telling you. As for who we are, my name is Nova."

"Storm."

"Gale."

"Nashi!"

"Reiki!"

"Ryu."

"Rosemary!"

"Sylvia!"

"Rin!" The others introduced themselves, and the Fairy Tail members got a chance to see what they looked like.

Nova wore black leggings and black boots, a light green sleeveless blouse, and a brown coat with a fur collar over her shoulders, seemingly keeping her warm. She looked about 18 years old, and had long blonde hair, with half of it tucked behind her ear and the other half hanging over her face, covering up her left eye. Her eyes were a bright blue. In terms of body physique, she was already quite mature, having assets comparable to her mother.

Storm, similar to his older friend, had a somewhat serious demeanor to him. He wore black shoes, dark blue pants, a black shirt, and a dark blue coat with a white fur collar. He looked to be 17, and had spiky, dark blue hair. His eyes were a cobalt blue.

Gale didn't seem to have a serious demeanor to him as much as an indifferent one. He seemed to often seem aloof. He had spiky green hair and a few piercings on one of his eyebrows, as well has having red eyes, a strange natural color. He wore black pants along with a spiked belt, and had a black undershirt with a green jacket and a necklace hung around his neck. He, like Storm, was 17.

The next one, Nashi, seemed to be have a more happy vibe to her. She had long pink hair and chocolate brown eyes. She wore pink shoes, tall white socks, a short bright pink skirt, and a black tank top. Nashi, even though she was only sixteen, already had assets that were quite large for her age, seemingly having her family's hourglass figure.

Reiki, the fifth, had medium length light red hair, though still noticeably darker than pink. He wore black shoes, gray pants, a gray tank top, and a green sweatshirt that he left unzipped. He was also about 16.

The next one was Ryu, who was a few years younger than the rest. He had spiky blonde hair, and wore black pants, a red shirt with a black jacket. He looked to be 13.

After him was Rosemary, who wore black leggings, a green blouse, and a blue jacket. Her scarlet hair was kept braided into a ponytail that reached a little beyond her shoulders. She was about 11 or so.

Finally were the twins. Sylvia, the older of the two, had light blue wavy hair, and wore black pants and an orange sweater. She kept her hair in pigtails and had a yellow flower hairpin on her left side.

Rin, the youngest of all of them, had medium length light blue hair, but unlike his brother, it was not spiked, and in fact remained down. He wore tan shorts, and a simple green t-shirt. Both he and his sister were 10.

"It's nice to meet you all."

"Likewise. Oh, I meant to ask. Was there a purple-haired girl with us, a little older than myself?"

"Ah, yeah. The hot one." Gray chuckled, earning a scowl from Juvia and a few laughs from the guys.

"Yeah, her. Her name's Fushigi."

"Yeah, she was the one who brought you in last night." Mira explained. "I was about to lock up when she came in with all of you, unconscious. She insisted that I take care of you, and then went off on her own."

"Did she say where she was going?"

"No, she didn't mention it. She seemed a bit in a hurry, too."

"Hmm…Well, she'll be fine. She's strong."

"Alright, good. I'll tell you what, why don't we go out for a bit?" she suggested.

"Huh? Go out for what?"

"Well, you may not want to tell us just yet, but I can tell that whatever happened to you has you shaken up."

"H-How can you tell?" Nova muttered, surprised.

"Your heartbeat's off."

"You can hear my heartbeat? How?"

"I have a few different special abilities. In any case, it seems that I'm right, so why don't we take your mind off of everything by doing some shopping?"

"...W-Well, alright. I guess it can't hurt." She looked down. Mira tilted her head to the side curiously. It would take more than she thought to cheer this girl up.

 **X**

Mira brought Nova, Storm and Nashi with her. The others decided to stay at the guild, and Nova hoped that they would take her advice and keep their situation quiet, especially their identities. While MIra and Nashi were in the changing rooms trying on a few new outfits, Storm hung back to talk with Nova.

"I wanted you to tell me why it is that we're not telling them anything other than our names. I thought the entire point of coming here was to get help against them!"

"You should already know why, Storm. Because we're in the past, and I'm being cautious. I don't want to change the future in any way that affects us."

"That's all good and fine, but we could at least let them know our situation."

"No, we can't. Have you forgotten, Storm?! All of our members, OUR members, are on her side because their souls were removed and they have to obey her! What would they say if we told them that we were running from their future selves and that they have to fight them?"

"I don't know that they'd find that believable…"

"Exactly...in this time, it's only been a year since they defeated Isabella. And while they fought both against and alongside mages that were even hundreds of years old, I think the future is a bit more farfetched. Zeref, Mavis, Grandpa Yury, Victoria, Isabella...they all had some form of immortality. We, however, haven't even been born yet. I suppose it's not completely unbelievable, though. Did you notice that they all had engagement rings already?"

"Yeah...So then, when do you plan on telling them?"

"I don't know...I wish Fushigi were here to help…"

"Hey, we don't need her every time."

"It feels like we do...she's like our big sister, she leads all of us. I can't hope to match up to her…"

"You're both Dragon Slayers."

"She's more proficient with it. She's stronger, prettier, smarter...Face it Storm, she's just plain better than me." The two remained in silence afterwards, as Mira and Nashi came out.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine...are you all set?" Nova sighed, once again avoiding Mira's gaze.

"Yes. Let's get going, I suppose." They began to walk towards the exit, and Mira glanced back at Nova inconspicuously.

'Poor girl...what's happened to her? And...she seems to be distant from me in particular...what did I do?'

 **X**

"Ah, this brings me back. This year...X793, I'm guessing?"

"Indeed. You know what I want you to do."

"You got it. Time to wreak some havoc."

 **X**

Things seemed to be normal as soon as Mira left the store until they heard screaming and saw a fair amount of people running.

"What's happening?!" Mira yelled, the others going on guard immediately. They turned their heads as soon as they saw a building crashing. Storm's eyes widened as the structure became encased in ice.

'Damn it...they followed us here! They can travel through time too?!' Nova bit her lip.

"Stay here!" She jumped off towards the commotion, ignoring the others calling out to her. She arrived at the top of the building adjacent to the icy one, looking down to see if she could find the perpetrator. She did find a shadowy figure, seemingly wearing a hooded cloak. The individual noticed her and began to run off, and Nova followed.

"Oh, Mirajane!" Mira turned around to see a civilian nearby, panicked. "The man who did this, he was heading towards Fairy Tail next!"

"Thank you! We'll go there right now!" She began to run, Storm stopping.

"What about Nova?!"

"She'll be fine! You said that she's strong, right? I trust that she'll be okay! Now come on! We have no time to waste!" Nashi pulled Storm along with her, following Mira back towards the guild.

 **X**

"Hey, is it suddenly getting colder around here?" Lucy shivered.

"I don't feel anything." Gray said.

"That's because you're used to the cold, ice boy." Natsu stood up, channeling heat through his body to keep himself warm. The front doors suddenly flung open, an icy wind blowing through, causing many of the other members to huddle up, their body temperatures quickly dropping. Natsu walked out front, noticing that some of the grass had begun to freeze over. Standing opposite him was a mage, surrounded in the cold wind.

"Gray…?"

 **X**

Nova continued to follow her target into the forest, finally landing in a clearing.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm just doing my job." She couldn't recognize the voice, they were using some kind of sound magic to make their tone deeper and ominous.

"And your job is to destroy our city and instill fear in the populace?"

"Precisely. I serve The Conqueror." Nova's eyes twitched angrily. She ran up to him and punched him, only succeeding in knocking the cloak into the wind, no body visible underneath.

"I was here to distract you. Your real opponent should be attacking your guild right now. By the time you get there, even as fast as you are, they'll be dead, or at the very least, in serious peril. So long, Nova Dreyar."

"Damn you….." She growled, channeling lightning through her entire body, her eyes turning yellow with rage. Wasting no more time, she pivoted on her heel and rushed back towards the guild.

 **X**

"Gray…?" Natsu asked quietly, the strange man resembling his teammate. He wore black pants, a black shirt, and a white coat, and had spiky blue hair as well as a bit of stubble on his chin. He certainly looked older than their version, by about 20 years, actually.

"Natsu. I was right, this is the year X793, from the looks of it. Tell me, where's Layla and my father?"

"Who are you really?" Before Natsu even realized what was happening, he was pinned to the ground and an icicle spear was being pointed at his throat.

"I'll ask again. Where are Layla and my father?" Natsu gulped, a band of sweat creeping down the side of his face. If this guy really was Gray, he was way stronger than he is now...and a lot faster.

"...They're not here right now…"

"Good. That's all I need to know." He grinned before retracting the spear back and beginning to thrust it forward. However, he was stopped, feeling something holding his arm. He glanced behind him to find Taurus there, holding his arm. He looked back in front of him, seeing Lucy holding her key out in front of her, having the kids stand behind the others for safety.

"Hehe...this isn't really a fight you want to get yourselves into. You should just let me do my thing and then I can go." He laughed, surprising the spirit by throwing his arm back, hitting the blunt side of the icicle into the minotaur's head, knocking him back. Gray swiftly jumped up and kicked him away, then hurled the spear at him, piercing his body.

"Taurus! Force Gate Closure!" Lucy quickly sent him back to his realm, not wanting him to get hurt any more than he already was.

"Ice Make: Snow Tiger." Future Gray used a Dynamic Ice Make spell to create a living ice tiger that prevented the others from getting to him. He smirked, quickly freezing the ground, causing the others' feet to be encased in ice, preventing them from going anywhere.

"And now to finish what I started." He walked forward, forming an ice sword and holding it at Natsu's throat. He glanced over at the kids, in the back of the guild.

"I guess this is the end for Nashi, huh?" he asked.

"Not really!" A female voice called out. He whirled around, seeing the pink-haired girl jump down and run past him.

"Oh no you don't!" He turned and prepared to freeze her as well until Storm grabbed him by his collar and tossed him away, landing opposite of him. The tiger turned to Nashi, who narrowed her eyes at it.

"Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!" Nashi gathered fire into both of her hands and unleashed it in a spiral, melting the tiger. She jumped up and punched the head, shattering the rest of it. Landing on the ground, she transferred heat to her feet, spreading it throughout the ground and thawing out everyone who was frozen. However, they still fell onto the ground, not being able to walk just yet. Mira jumped down and began to heal them, but still advised them to stay back.

"How...you're a Fire Dragon Slayer?" Natsu asked.

"Yes. Stay here, all of you." She ran back to face Future Gray alongside Storm.

"Having fun?" Storm asked emotionlessly towards his father.

"And? What if I am? As I recall, you always went around picking fights too."

"That's different. As I recall, you were the same way when you were my age." he grinned, gathering up his own ice powers into his hands. His hair slowly began to turn white in color.

"Why don't you show us what you really look like?"

"...Very well." Gray's body began to be covered in a thick milky white and hazy blue magic aura, shading his skin as well as his clothing.

"Yes, it's as I thought. You still don't have your soul back yet." Storm claimed, the others becoming bewildered at this revelation.

"I don't need it anymore. I'm stronger this way!"

"You're also a bloodthirsty maniac."

"Enough. You won't be saying that about me when I'm through with you." Gray's devil slayer marks began to form across his body.

"Ice Make: Lance!" Storm made a flurry of lances that flew towards Gray.

"Ice Devil's Rage!" Gray gathered energy in his mouth, firing a blast of purple ice that destroyed the weapons before they reached him.

'Damn...I can't match up to his Devil Slaying Magic…'

"Ice Make: Cold Excalibur!" Storm formed a massive two-handed longsword out of ice and slashed towards Future Gray.

"Ice Devil's Zeroth Long Sword!" He formed a purple ice sword and connected with Storm's attack, the larger surprisingly being cracked and shattered.

"Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Bow!" He quickly switched weapons and fired an arrow towards the now white haired ice mage, who smiled.

"Water Body." The arrow went through him and hit the wall of the guild, but Storm's body had a hole in it, where a bit of water was dripping from his stomach.

"Alright, fine. Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Fist." Gray formed his ice gauntlets and started punching furiously, more of Storm's body just exploding and water remaining.

'That's my spell...could he be…?' Juvia thought to herself. Gray finished by punching him through the head, his whole form now gone, but quickly reforming.

"Behind you." He grinned, prompting Gray to glance over his shoulder, Nashi channeling a golden light.

"Survey the Heavens, Open the Heavens...All the stars, far and wide...Show me thy appearance...With such shine."

'Impossible...that spell is…!' Lucy's eyes widened, watching the pink haired girl perform her strongest technique.

"Oh Tetrabiblos...I am the ruler of the stars...Aspect become complete...Open thy malevolent gate...Oh 88 stars of the heavens! Shine! Urano Metria!" The golden energy was focused into a huge blast as Nashi directed it at their opponent.

"There...I hope that did something…" She panted, falling over. As the light faded, Gray stood there completely unaffected.

"Funny thing about Anti-Matter Magic...it rejects everything. Even a spell like that cannot harm me. Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Bow." Gray once again formed a bow and shot Storm, though this time his body was not water.

"Ghhrk!"

"Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Fist!" He ran up and punched him multiple times, knocking him to the ground.

"And now for the finishing blow!" He raised his fist, ready to defeat him.

"Hey. What do you think you're doing to my friends?" Gray looked up before getting kicked away, Nova facing him now, lightning channeling throughout her body.

"Nova…" Storm muttered, looking up at her.

"Don't talk. We'll get you fixed up soon. For now, let me deal with him. Sorry, but I'm going to have to get rough." She didn't wait for an answer, and stepped forward.

"So, it's your turn now, is it? Finally, a real challenge!" She ignored him and grabbed her coat, throwing it off of herself.

"Lightning Body." She wasted no time, generating so much electricity that her very appearance changed. She jumped towards him, faster than he could react to, and got punched and knocked across the field.

"Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Fists!" Future Gray formed his gauntlets again and ran towards her, punching, but being unable to land a blow as she was too fast, and sped around to his back, kicking him down. He jumped back up and froze the ground, Nova jumping up to avoid contact, then kicking Gray in the side of the head, causing him to fall back onto the ground. She backed up, and held her hand out, her magic power seemingly changing.

"Darkness Stream!"

'That's mine!' Mira thought, looking at the girl. The dark arms lunged towards the ice mage, who desperately dodged them.

"Ice Devil's Rage!" He wiped out her spell with his attacks, and she once again used lightning magic to rush at him, as he reformed his gauntlets and they matched each other blow for blow. However, Nova was getting hurt more, and was sent flying back.

"You want to know the difference between us? It's our ages. You're only 18, a girl. You're smaller and younger than me, you can't land blows as powerful."

'That may be true, but something's still off about him…Even those blows that connected didn't seem to faze him. I think that Anti-Matter magic is somehow making him more durable as well, or perhaps a form of shock absorption? Either way, I need to step things up if I want to win.' She looked up, thinking back to her training.

 _ **X811**_

" _Huh? Magic Inheritance?" The kids asked. Fushigi, Nova, Storm, Reiki and Nashi all sat outside, in a semicircle in front of Vera, who was now 33 years old._

" _Right. Master wants me to train you starting today, and I want to focus on what's called Magic Inheritance. Basically, it's a fusion of two inherited magics to make one super-powered one."_

" _But what's an inherited magic? Can you give us an example?" Fushigi asked._

" _Alright, sure. Take myself. My mom taught me Heavenly Body Magic, and my dad taught me Ankhseram Magic. When I combine those two together, I can use Black Heavenly Body Magic, which has the speed and technique of the former, as well as the deadliness of the latter. I can then even combine it with my Dragon Force, unleashing my full power."_

" _So it's the fusion of magic that we learned from our parents…" Nova murmured._

" _Right. And, in a few of your cases, this works out rather well. You see, you're what we refer to as Fourth Generation Dragon Slayers. It's a term that your Grandpa Yury recently came up with. A First Generation Slayer is one who was taught by a dragon. A Second Generation Slayer is one who had a lacrima implanted within them. And a Third Generation Slayer is one who was taught by a dragon, as well as has a lacrima within them. A Fourth Generation Slayer is one who inherited the power from one of their parents."_

" _So, our dads?" They asked simultaneously._

" _Precisely. Dragon Slayers have never had any children before. Well, I mean, Aunt Irene did, but that's sort of a special case. Laxus, Natsu, and Erik are essentially the first dragon slayers in history to mate and have children naturally. We had no idea that when a child is born from that union, they automatically have that type of magic within them, without a lacrima, or prior training from a dragon. True, they need to learn how to use it themselves, but the point is that the magic is genetic, and therefore already inside you, whereas I had to have a lacrima implanted in me to be able to use it at all."_

" _So it's useful in fusion?"_

" _Yes. Slayer Magics are very compatible with other types. Hmm...let me think. Fushigi, your mother taught you eye magic and snake magic, and your father gave you Poison Dragon Slaying Magic. So, somehow you could fuse them to make yourself have the abilities of a snake while using Dragon Slaying Spells." Fushigi looked at herself, trying to think of how to use both._

" _Storm, your father taught you Ice Magic, and your mother taught you Water Magic. That one's a no-brainer."_

" _But Ice mixed with water just makes more ice! It freezes!"_

" _So find a way to make it not freeze. Reiki, your mother gave you Requip Magic, and your father Heavenly Body Magic. Perhaps you could make a new armor?" She suggested, winking at him and making him light up._

" _Nashi, Fire Dragon Slaying Magic and Celestial Spirit Magic...that's a tough one. I'm not sure how to use even light and fire together...Golden Fire, maybe?"_

" _That already sounds cool!" She jumped up and down, cheering._

" _And, lastly, Nova. Lightning and Take Over...that's an even harder combination to do."_

" _Actually, I think I have an idea...I just have to practice and make it work."_

" _I see. I look forward to witnessing it."_

"Take Over: Lightning Soul!" Instead of emitting electricity off of her body like before, this time it seemed to come from within her. Nova's eyes glowed yellow, and her body seemed to be tingling with power. She dashed towards him at blinding speed, her power sparking along the ground. Gray's eyes widened, holding up his gauntlets to defend himself, but failing as she punched right through them, shattering the weapons.

'What…?! What is this power?! She never used this before!'

Nova followed up with a powerful punch straight into his stomach, sending him flying back and coughing up blood. She didn't let up and went after him again, delivering a series of blows and finishing with an upwards kick to his chin. He slowly recovered and used Ice Devil's Rage again.

Nova narrowed her eyes and increased her electric output, changing the lightning's color to purple.

'This is for you, Dad.' Now even faster, she easily barreled through Gray's attack and grabbed his throat, crushing him into a nearby tree. He kicked her away and formed his bow again, firing multiple shots at her, all of which she dodged.

"I've had enough of you! Let's see if your new power can handle this!" She clenched her hand into a fist and channeled purple lightning through it. Gray abandoned his regular magic and used anti-matter, preparing to clash with her.

"Lightning Dragon's…" she snarled.

'Nova…? She's…?' Mira and Laxus asked themselves.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"IRON FIST!" Their fists connected, tearing up the land. However, Nova ultimately overpowered him, and sent him flying back through the forest, blowing through numerous trees and hitting a large one rather forcefully, knocking him unconscious. After a few moments, the anti-matter magic left his body, restoring his normal appearance.

Nova was gasping for air, drained of her stamina. Her powers left her as well, and she fell forward, blacking out.

 **X**

"What's this I heard about an attack?" Layla asked, arriving back at the guild along with Silver.

"Where were you?!" they all asked angrily.

"We were at a meeting for the Wizard Saints. Who did this?"

"This might be hard to believe, but…" They led her through to the infirmary, where Future Gray was lying, getting treated.

"He did this?" Silver examined, stepping forward.

"Yeah...weird, huh?"

"And who stopped him?" he asked, after a few moments.

"Through here. We gave them the Master's Quarters this time." Mira explained, opening the adjacent door. The queen sized bed was full with kids. Storm and Gale were asleep in the armchairs on the sides, but the rest were sleeping with Nova. She laid in the middle, as Nashi and Reiki slept on either side of her, Ryu across the edge, and the twins lying against her chest. Layla stepped in quietly, looking at all of them. The others stood by the door, smiling at the heartwarming sight. She walked out and closed the door, not wanting to disrupt their rest. Having the rest of the guild follow her back down to the main floor, she went behind the bar and poured herself a glass of wine.

"They're your kids from the future." She said, taking a sip. The others took a few moments to process this before shouting out, baffled.

"Wh-What do you mean?! How can you be sure?! And never mind, how is that possible?!" Lucy yelled.

"You didn't realize? I thought it was rather obvious once I saw them. They all look like you. As for how it's possible...just look in the other room at who did this. It's clearly an older version of Gray, so I assume some kind of time travelling magic was used to come back here. As for why he did this, and why they're here, we don't know yet. I guess we'll just have to ask them when they wake up."

"Our...kids…?" Mira asked again, blushing. She looked at the others, Lucy the same as her, and Erza and Juvia melted into a puddle on the floor, clearly embarrassed by the mere idea of having sex with their boyfriends.

"So...how are they doing?" Kinana asked, changing the subject.

"The kids are fine, just exhausted. I can't blame them, I'm guessing coming here took a toll on all of them. As for Future Gray, as we'll call him, he's pretty beaten up. I don't think he'll be awake for at least another day or two. For now, all we can do is wait until the children wake up and tell us what's going on."

 **X**

Nova awoke a few hours later, feeling restricted, not being able to move at all. She glanced around her, finding all of her friends by her side.

"Ugh...guys, come on, wake up so I can move." she whined. They slowly awoke and sat up, stretching.

"Nova, how did you do that?!" Sylvia tackled her, pushing her back against the bed.

"Do what?" She asked, returning the embrace.

"Magic Inheritance. What else?" Storm asked, standing up.

"I've...been practicing in secret for a while now. I haven't really been able to sleep well in a long time, so when you guys go to bed, I sneak off and train."

"And you didn't bother to tell us?" Nashi pouted.

"...I was saving it as an ace to use against her." she sighed. They all remained silent.

"...Come on. Let's go." She grabbed her coat and draped it over herself, not bothering to put her arms through the sleeves. They walked downstairs slowly, greeted by the smiling faces of the guild members. They all sat down at an empty table.

"...What?" Nova asked after a minute of silence and staring.

"...You know, they really do look like us…" Erza commented. Nova's eyes narrowed.

"You guys...are our children? From the future?" Natsu asked suddenly. Nova stood up, knocking her chair over.

"Who told you that?" she asked, seemingly unstable. Her voice had a slight tremble in it.

"I did." They all looked up, Layla walking out of a room on the second floor, leaning over the railing, looking down at them.

"Grammy!" Nashi cheered happily, running up the stairs and throwing her arms around her waist. Layla smiled at the girl before looking back down.

"Nashi…" Nova groaned.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I got too excited…" she giggled sheepishly.

"So it is true." Layla locked eyes with Nova.

"...Yes, it's true. How did you figure it out?"

"If it were just your group, it might have been a bit more difficult, but your version of Gray is getting healed up in the infirmary, so it was pretty obvious from that what was really going on. At least it was to me. Who knows what the rest of you ding dongs were thinking?" Nashi giggled, hugging her tighter, as Layla patted her head and returned the embrace.

"So then...why don't you all reintroduce yourselves? For real this time?" Nashi disconnected herself and leaned over the railing, grinning.

"Nashi Dragneel!" Natsu and Lucy's jaws dropped to the ground as the rest of the guild either laughed, pointed, or cheered at the two.

"Alright...Storm Fullbuster." He closed his eyes, Gray yelling and Juvia once again practically passing out.

"Gale Redfox." Gale introduced himself as well, both Gajeel and Levy having similar reactions to the previous two.

"Reiki Fernandes." He smiled at Erza, whose face turned the same color as her hair.

"Ryuu Dragneel." The blonde haired boy was next, and while this did little to affect Natsu anymore, Lucy was even more embarrassed.

'Not just one...but two?' She asked herself.

"Rosemary Fernandes!" Reiki's little sister smiled happily at Erza, who this time gazed in wonder at her daughter, finding her adorable.

"Sylvia and Rin Fullbuster!" The two twins said at the same time, causing more oohs and aahs throughout the hall.

'At least I'm not Juvia…' Lucy thought. All eyes turned to Nova, the only one left. She continued to look at the ground, a faint blush creeping up on her cheeks. After a few moments, she sighed and looked up.

"Nova...Dreyar…" she muttered the last part, barely audible, but still loud enough to be heard by the core members. Mira's eyes widened, taking in the appearance of her daughter.

"You're so beautiful…" She walked over, bending down and hugging Nova. The girl flinched, refusing to return the embrace, but not doing anything to push her mom off of her, at least not in front of the others.

Layla cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention again.

"Well, now that that's taken care of...why don't you tell us why you're here?"

 **End.**

 **Let it be known that this story will be rated M not so much for the sexual content or language like last time, but for the violence. The main antagonist of this story is going to be far more brutal, violent, and sociopathic than Isabella. I hope you enjoyed this first chapter!**


	2. Fushigi

**Songs**

 **Background on Envoys: Child of Chaos (Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn OST)**

 **Nova's Piano Song: Waltz No. 7 (Frederic Chopin)**

 **Layla's Piano Song: Etude Op. 10 No. 4 (Frederic Chopin)**

 **Vs. Kinana and Erik: Beauty is a Mad Mistress (Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn OST)**

 **Fushigi Arrives: Soredemo Sara ni Mukou e (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Fushigi vs. Kinana and Erik: Bunta (Naruto OST)**

 **Fushigi vs. Erik: Rising Dragon (Naruto Shippuden OST)**

 **Fushigi at the Guild & Future Juvia: Comfort's Call (Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn OST)**

 **Fushigi and Nova's Discussion: Sorrowful Prince Pelleas (Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn OST)**

 **Festival: Mannen No. 2 (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Nova's PTSD: Hidari wa Zettai Tsukawanee (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Nova's Decision and Fushigi and Mira's Pursuit: Kimi no Chikara (My Hero Academia OST)**

"Why don't you tell us why you're here?" Mira released her daughter and went back over to the bar, leaning against the counter. The blonde haired girl sighed and looked around, waiting for everyone to give her their full attention. At last, she took a deep breath and began explaining their situation.

"First of all, I should say that in our time, the year is X814, which is 21 years off from here. Oh, where is it? It should be here somewhere, right?" She stood up and ran into the Master's Quarters, scanning Layla's bookshelf before taking out a book and bringing it downstairs, beginning to read from it.

"This is probably review for you at this point, but I'll say it anyway. When the gods destroyed the first world, they created another one, and instead of starting over again when conflicts arose, they decided to introduce the concepts of demigods. The five main primordials journeyed down to Earthland for about a year, and found someone to conceive a child with. Those children were born with special abilities that far outclassed a normal mage, and could keep the balance between guilds during a power struggle. After all five demigods in a generation passed away, the gods would choose new candidates within their families to bestow their powers upon. The Heartfilias are direct descendants of Nyx, the Goddess of the Night, the Dreyars are direct descendants of Aether, the God of Light, the Dragneels are direct descendants of Erebus, the God of Darkness, the Fullbusters are direct descendants of Uranus, the God of the Sky, and the Belserions are direct descendants of Gaia, the Goddess of the Earth. For generations, these five envoys, as we call them, were able to successfully keep the peace in the land. However, the question came up to the gods about the envoys joining forces to take down the rest of the guilds for themselves, or if they fight amongst each other and others get caught up in it. Their solution was to have the sixth primordial, Hemera, the Goddess of Daylight, do the same thing her family did before, and her descendants are known as the Strausses, whose purpose is to keep the peace between the envoys."

"Right...so what's your situation?" Silver asked.

"Well...after you all defeated Isabella in X792, things were peaceful for those two decades. Fewer and fewer dark guilds were operating, and most jobs were simply taking out bandits or monsters rather than enemy mages. But that all changed a few months ago...a new mage showed up out of nowhere, and completely overpowered us. She calls herself The Conqueror, and uses a unique type of magic that she created, called Antimatter."

"Anti-Matter? Never heard of it. Does that mean she's from the future too?" Layla asked.

"Yes, and that blue and white shroud that was on Gray is her doing. Her magic has the ability to steal the souls of others and make them do her bidding, turning them into bloodthirsty fighters. She's already used it to turn the entire guild into her slaves, and to finish us off. None of us are strong enough to stand up to her, so we used a time travel spell that Nyx taught us to come back here and get help. Unfortunately, based on what happened earlier today, we can assume that she was able to follow us."

"Do you know who she is? Her real name?" Layla asked. They all looked over to Nova, who remained silent.

"...No. She hides her face with her magic shroud. I don't know who she really is."

"...Very well. If what happened to Gray happened to the others, as you said, then it's only a matter of time before more show up seeking you. For now, we'll wait for them, since going out and looking will not have a high success rate. I'm going to the Magic Council to inform Yury. I'll be back soon." She used her magic to create a portal and left.

"I'm...going to get some fresh air." Nova stood up and began walking towards the exit.

"I'll go with you." Storm stood up and followed her, leaving the others a bit confused.

"What's up with them?" Laxus asked.

"It's...don't worry about it. She'll be alright." Nashi reassured, walking back down to the others.

 **X**

"Why did you lie to them?"

"I did what I had to."

"Stop using that excuse." Nova began walking faster, trying to leave Storm behind.

"Look at me!" He yelled, running around to the front of her.

"What?!"

"It's not good for you to keep denying this, Nova!"

"I CAN'T HELP IT, STORM!" She screamed, now shedding tears, startling him.

"How do you think I feel, seeing her again in there? After what she did to me? I can't just forgive her…" she sobbed.

"Nova, you need to rest and think about things some more."

"I can't...If I fall asleep, I'll have that nightmare again."

"Nova, it's been two months since that day, and you've barely slept in all that time. You need to rest."

"...If I have that dream again, you're going to get it."

 **X**

 ****"I see...so that's who they are, huh?"

"Yes."

"And what do you think of the situation?" Layla sighed and sat down across from him.

"I think they're pretty cute. And from what Mira told me, their abilties are something too. However, one of them, the Dreyar girl, Nova, seems a bit different from the rest."

"In what way?"

"She seems...lonely, broken up...she's like me, in a way."

"Ah, so that's it. You've taken a liking to her."

"Yes. I'm curious as to what's making her so distant compared to the others. Granted, she's the oldest of them, so it's possible that she's just being mature and taking the situation more seriously, but...I don't know. She was the only one who didn't seem excited to meet her parents."

"Does she know about the envoys?"

"Yes, she does. She knows about you as well, all of us. So, at some point in the future, either we told them or they found out from their parents or something. What worries me is what she said about who they're fighting."

"You mean this mage they're calling "The Conqueror"?"

"Yeah. From what she said, this mage is also from the future, and uses a special kind of magic she created herself, called Antimatter. It's supposed power is to steal the souls of others, effectively making them her puppets. Nova claimed that the rest of their guild had already been taken by her, which means that it's possible that even you and I fall to her. She also said that she was the first major threat to show up since Isabella. If that's the case, it might be possible that she wants the power of Chaos for herself."

"We can't let that happen. Isabella was dangerous enough, and this new individual...has a power that she never had."

"You're forgetting that Isabella took control of your mind."

"Yes, but it's possible to break through that. She herself explained when we fought her that all she does is change your thinking process to support her own. This Conqueror is stealing people's very essences, and forcing them into ravaging the world. She's even more dangerous because we don't know who she is, and what her goals are. This time, we're going to need your help."

"...I understand. Thank you for telling me."

"Yes. I'm going to head back now. Contact me should you need anything else."

 **X**

"Where'd Nova go?" Layla asked upon returning to the guild.

"I brought her to your place to rest. I hope you don't mind." Storm answered.

"No, that's fine. I wanted to speak with her." She walked off, and in a short time, arrived at her house, where she heard faint piano playing. She unlocked the door and walked into the living room, finding the girl playing flawlessly. Layla slowly walked towards her, and stood nearby, picking up her coat and hanging it up in the closet as she listened. Finishing the song, Layla clapped, and Nova looked over to her, smiling.

"Where did you learn that?"

"From you."

"From me?" She sat down next to her on the bench.

"Yes. Didn't you make your wish yet?"

"Yes, I did. Ah, I see what you're getting at now. After Zeref passed, I went back to Olympus and changed my wish for Chaos. I asked him if I could have the knowledge of all music from the previous world. And he granted it to me, giving me the scores of all of the famous composers. I've been studying lots of them. That one you just did was Chopin's Waltz No. 7, correct?"

"Yeah...Can you play one for me too?"

"Huh? Why? You're a masterful player on your own." The younger woman blushed, looking away.

"W-When I was little, you always used to play for me, and it would make me so happy. And right now...I could use some cheering up."

"...Of course, dear." Nova moved over, giving Layla the room she needed to play. She looked up, thinking about what piece to play. Beginning to play extremely fast, Nova was captivated, watching her fingers dance across the keys effortlessly. She went and sat down on the couch, closing her eyes and taking in the flawless piano playing that she was given. Once Layla was finished, she went over and sat down next to her. Her mouth opened slightly in surprise when Nova laid down, resting her head in her lap.

"What is it?" she laughed slightly.

"I just...feel comfortable around you…" she mumbled, curling up.

"...Nova. Why do you feel more of a connection to me than with your parents?"

"My…..mother was often busy with her work that came with her positions. I didn't really get all that much time to spend with her, and since my dad often joined her, they left me in your care. You're my godmother after all...I love you."

"Aww...I love you too, dear." She bent down and kissed her forehead, then continuing to stroke her hair.

"Nova, about earlier…you didn't give away as much as you know. I suppose that's understandable, since we were surrounded by lots of people, but now that we're alone...tell me what you really know."

"What are you talking about? I already told you everything-"

"Nova. Let's not play this game. You may have some of the others fooled, but I'm not like them. Tell me the truth. I promise I won't tell anyone else if it shouldn't be known. The Conqueror. Who is she?"

"...She's…" At that moment, the front door flew open, and Vera stood in the entryway, out of breath.

"What is it?"

"Sorry...was I interrupting something?"

"Don't worry about it. What's happened?"

"Another attack. In Oak Town. According to the townspeople, the ones responsible have taken up in Phantom Lord's old headquarters."

"I see. Well then, let's see...tell Silver, Storm, and Nashi to meet me there. I'll be taking Nova with me. The rest should stay at the guild just in case, and to watch over the other kids."

"You got it." She ran off.

"We'll consider this conversation later, okay?"

"Yes…" She sighed.

"Alright, good. Now come on." Layla stood up, Nova following closely behind.

 **X**

Arriving in Oak Town, the streets were deadly quiet. It seemed that everyone had already fled, and what damage that had been done was already dealt.

"Hmm...well, I doubt that they're still out here. They must be in the castle." Layla led the others through a portal that went just outside the city, taking them right to the front entrance of Phantom Lord's old headquarters, surprisingly rebuilt.

"How is this place still standing? I thought it would have been abandoned for years now." Nova mentioned, looking through the newly decorated halls.

"I fixed it up and bought it, then turned it into a history museum. It's where part of my income comes from. Obviously I had to move it a bit closer to the town than it was previously, but there were still plenty of people that came by. Though right now the only ones here are us and whoever we're about to face." They continued walking through the dining halls until coming upon the main foyer, where someone greeted them from the top of the stairs, covered in the same blue and white shroud that Gray was in.

"Kinana?" Layla asked, recognizing her appearance. The shroud slowly faded and an older version of Kinana stood there, clad in a green dress and black boots. Her hair was slightly longer than usual, reaching down to her upper back. Layla began to run towards her, but was intercepted by Future Erik, who used Poison Dragon's Roar to make her keep her distance.

Nova ran towards him this time, preparing a spell of her own.

"Lightning Dragon's Claw!"

"Poison Dragon's Claw!" The two slashed at each other, but Erik was able to overcome her and throw her to the ground with his superior hand to hand skills.

The others prepared to attack, but he placed his foot on her throat, prompting them to stop.

"Make another move and her throat gets crushed." he threatened. They gritted their teeth, standing by.

'I can't even slow down time, he'd kill her before I got to them…' Layla thought.

"Good. Now say goodbye." He raised his foot up, preparing to stomp, distressing the others.

"Poison Dragon's Roar!" A stronger, purple blast of magic blasted through the wall and knocked Erik away, landing in the next room. Kinana, startled, looked down and saw a single figure walk through the rubble.

"Come on, Dad. It's been years since you were part of a dark guild. Don't tell me you're back to your old habits?" The girl smirked.

"Fushigi…" Nova cried happily. She walked over and helped her up, Erik jumping through and getting ready to attack again. Fushigi intercepted him.

"Poison Dragon's Crushing Fang!" She swiped at him, cutting through the air with streaks of red and purple magic. He jumped back and used a spell of his own.

"Poison Dragon's Scales!" Creating a magic circle, a rain of red projectiles spewed forth, bombarding the others.

"Poison Dragon's Guard!" Fushigi swiped her hands into a cross, a wall of poison generating and blocking the attacks. She went after him, kicking him back across the room and jumping after him.

"Go help her. We have this." Layla ordered. The two younger mages followed her through the castle while Kinana ran up the stairs, Layla and Silver following her. They arrived in the old master's quarters, where she opened a door in the back of the room that led up a final staircase. At the top was an old iron door that led outside to a balcony. She ran to the edge, turning around and facing them.

"Kinana, there's nowhere left for you to go."

"Yes, there is." She grinned, preparing to jump over the edge. Layla quickly slowed down time and added Silver into her dimension, allowing him to freeze her feet, preventing her from leaping. She turned time back to normal and walked up to her.

"You see, even though this magic has changed you, I can't let you hurt yourself. You still have your daughter to think about and care for."

"Fushigi? What do I care about her? She's been a rambunctious tomboy since she was little."

"I thought you'd love her like that. She's just like Erik."

"That's what I hate about her!"

"This magic really does a lot to your personality, doesn't it?" Layla asked, gathering Holy Magic into her palm.

"Where did you learn that?" Kinana asked.

"My grandmother invented it, and she said it's made of night and light magic, so it was rather simple for me to use it myself. It just took some practice and intuitiveness." She slammed her palm onto Kinana's stomach, attempting to purify her, but nothing happened.

"Hm...it's not enough...I'm sorry about this." She formed her spirit weapon and shot an arrow through her, blood spilling out of her mouth and her magic shroud leaving her. Falling onto the ground, Layla bent down and healed her, closing up the wound and saving her life.

"Now we just have to wait for the others."

 **X**

Nova jumped back from another of Erik's strikes, and staggered somewhat as she recovered. Fushigi caught her and held her up.

"Don't overexert yourself." She jumped towards her father again, slashing him and then grabbing his clothes.

"Poison Dragon's Grip Strike!" She fired a blast of poison at him point-blank. This damaged him, but he was still able to stand.

"Poison Dragon's Roar!"

"Poison Dragon's Guard!" Fushigi formed another barrier that blocked her father's attack, then using her mother's snake magic to effectively maneuver her body around like a snake, slithering behind him, then deactivating the spell and aiming a roundhouse kick at the back of his head.

"I can hear you." He grinned, dodging her strike and countering by kicking her in the stomach, sending her reeling back into the corner of the wall, hitting it with a strong rebound.

"Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist!" Nova created a yellow magic circle that launched a large electric fist out of it.

"Poison Dragon's Spiral Jaw!" Erik jumped into the air and rotated his body so that he was upside down, gathering poison magic onto his feet and spinning, creating a spiral attack that broke Nova's efforts apart.

"Crimson Lotus: Phoenix Blade!" Nashi gathered bright orange flames around herself, then propelled towards Erik, headbutting him and knocking him through the castle and out the window, shattering the glass.

"No! It's too high up! Fushigi, I didn't mean to-!"

"It's fine, I'll grab him!" She responded, jumping out after him. The others ran out towards the entrance as quickly as they could. Fushigi saw the ground approaching fast and became worried.

"Poison Dragon's Roar!" Her attention was brought back to her father, who still insisted on fighting her, even in midair. She countered with her own roar, cancelling them out.

"Sorry Dad, I have to use this. I hope I don't give you Tinnitus or anything…"

"Poison Dragon's Scales!" He launched multiple projectiles at her again, distressing her.

'I have to get behind him again!' Looking around frantically, she used wind magic to propel herself over to the wall, grabbing ahold of it and instantly using her snake magic to maneuver down it faster than Erik fell. She undid it, appearing behind him again. But as he turned around, it was already too late. Fushigi, with her eyes now green with black slits, resembling a serpent, snapped her fingers.

"Sound Wall." A loud sound wave made Erik cry out in pain, his hearing becoming affected. He became unconscious, and Fushigi grabbed him, holding him close and closing her eyes as they were nearing the ground. Layla clapped her hands, stopping time, then running down to below where they were. She clapped her hands again, and now that their momentum had disappeared, she was able to catch them easily and put them down.

"T-Thanks, Layla."

"No problem." Erik's magic left him as well "We should get them back to the guild for treatment."

"Yes, let's…"

 **X**

The guild waited patiently, watching Layla walk out of the infirmary and brushing her hair out of her face.

"They're going to be fine. They just need rest, same as before." she smiled, the rest of them sighing.

"Still, it's weird to think that there's another me in there, just older…" Kinana said to herself.

"Now you know how I feel." Gray told her.

"Oh, I meant to ask. Where'd that other girl go? You know, your new friend?" Lucy asked the kids.

"She went to the hot springs at Fairy Hills and took Nova with her. She said she hasn't been able to bathe in a few days, and wanted to do that and put a fresh change of clothes on."

"I see."

"Yeah. Fushigi is like an older sister to all of us. She takes care of us and looks after us, and loves us all unconditionally. Although she and Nova have the strongest relationship out of all of us. It might just be because they're the oldest, but Nova often confides in her, whereas she kind of keeps her deepest secrets from us."

"Mm…" Layla crossed her arms, thinking that she should maybe just ask Fushigi instead.

"Ahh…" The girl in question walked through the guild's entrance along with Nova, running her hands through her long purple hair. She wore black shoes, black leggings, and a purple blouse. Like Nova and Nashi, she also had a very womanly figure, and wore pink lipstick as well as eyeshadow and blush. To put it bluntly, she had a type of beauty that put many of the others' to shame, and would even rival Isabella, were she still alive.

"So they're fine, then?" she asked Layla.

"Yes, they'll be alright. I imagine they'll be awake again by tomorrow."

"That's good. I hope I didn't make my father go deaf." she chuckled. "I hope you guys know who we are by now?"

"Yes." They all answered.

"That's good. I was never really one that liked to keep secrets. I think that it's a bit obvious by now, but I'm Erik and Kinana's daughter, Fushigi Cobra. Yes, we decided to use his old codename as our last name." she smiled. Kinana smiled at her and walked over, hugging her, her daughter happily returning the embrace.

"If you don't mind me asking, where have you been the past few days?" Mira asked her.

"Ah, that's right. Well, when we arrived, I was the only one conscious. I figured that I should get them all into the guild at least, so they could rest. That's when I met you. But I couldn't stay. I decided that I should get to work right away, figuring out what year it was, and trying to locate some of our members that had been affected by Antimatter magic."

"And? Any luck?" Nova asked.

"Yes, actually. I've found and sent most of them back to our time actually, now that there's no danger there anymore. I don't think we should have everyone stay here, it would get too crowded, and the town would start to notice two of the same people walking around. The only one I deemed necessary to remain was Juvia, since she has you three here, as well as Gray." She motioned towards the infirmary.

"Mommy's here? Where?!" The twins ran over, jumping up and down, anxious to see their mother again.

"She's in a safehouse not far from here. She should be on her way now, considering that she's all healed up already."

"Wow...you did half of the work for us already…" Nova muttered.

"No, I'm afraid not." She shook her head. "Yes, I narrowed it down to the core members of the guild, but they're the strongest ones, and I'm afraid I can't fight them by myself, even though I'm an S-Class Mage."

"That's what we're here for. And hey, S-Class doesn't matter. I'm the same, but I had trouble with them too." Nova smiled at her.

"Both of you are S-Class?" Mira asked, surprised. "At such a young age…"

"Look who's freaking talking, you were promoted when you were only 16, right?" Gray yelled.

"I was promoted at 13." Layla said nonchalantly.

"That's because you're a monster!" All of them yelled at her.

"So then...who's left? I assume you've been keeping track?" Nova asked.

"Yes. The only ones left that we have to deal with are Erza and Jellal, Natsu and Lucy, Laxus, Layla, Yury, and Silver, and Master. Then we just have The Conqueror herself."

"Wait...I'm not the Master anymore in your time?"

"No, you retired 4 years ago now. Mira took over."

"I did?!" The younger version asked.

"Yeah! And actually...nah, I'll let it be a surprise." Fushigi giggled.

"What?"

"I said it's a surprise. But it will get here soon enough." At that moment, an older version of Juvia walked into the hall slowly.

"Mommy!" The twins ran to her.

"Rin, Sylvia…" she sobbed, bending down and embracing them. Storm stood up and walked over, as well.

"Hey, Mom."

"Storm…" She pulled him into the hug as well, before standing up and looking over at her younger self.

"I know this must be strange for you…seeing me here like this…"

"Eh...Juvia has seen stranger." she smiled happily.

"Stranger than seeing your future self? What was it?"

"How about Uranus-sama standing over Juvia, 100 feet tall and with six lances floating around him, all covered in whirlwinds?"

"Ah, yeah...Juvia almost forgot about that." The two shared a laugh.

"Where's Gray-sama?" She asked.

"In the infirmary, if you want to see him. He'll be up and walking tomorrow." Layla said.

"Thank you, Layla-san." She bowed respectfully, going over to the aforementioned room and opening the door, going to Future Gray's bed."

"It's already nighttime." Fushigi pointed out, some of the others beginning to yawn.

"Yes, I suppose so. We should all go to bed early to have enough energy for tomorrow."

"Why, what's tomorrow?" Nova asked her godmother.

"Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day that the war ended with Alvarez. It's been a year since then."

"Ah...I forgot, with everything that's going on." Fushigi smiled. "That will be a nice break from all of this."

"Yeah...real great…" Nova sighed.

 **X**

Once again, she couldn't sleep. Or rather, she wouldn't let herself fall asleep. Nova quietly got up and snuck downstairs, sitting down at one of the tables and sighing, holding her head in her hands.

"Having trouble sleeping again?" Nova gasped, looking up to see Fushigi walk down the stairs towards her.

"You know I can't." Her friend sat down across from her, looking concerned.

"Nova, you must be exhausted. You haven't slept for months, have you? You need to get some rest."

"Fushigi, every time I fall asleep I have that nightmare...I don't want to relive that hell every night."

"Nova, you have to move past this! You can't keep doing this to yourself!"

"What do you want me to do, Fushigi? You didn't see what I saw. You weren't the one she showed that scene to."

"And once again, you must remember that that was not our timeline."

"It doesn't matter if it was or not! That was her own, and what she did really happened!" The two remained in silence after this remark.

"...Is that why you've been avoiding her?"

"That's none of your business."

"I'll take that as a yes. Nova, how do you think you're making her feel? Everyone else is thrilled to see their parents, and you don't give a damn. They probably feel left out or lonely because you don't want to spend any time with them."

"...If you were in my position, wouldn't you do the same? I know it's not really her, but...every time I see her face, I see HER face...grinning, laughing, doing...that."

"So why haven't you told her?"

"Because first of all, I don't know if I have the strength to talk about it. And second of all, if I did, what if she's the one who becomes distant? After all, what she did was horrifying...Fushigi, earlier you said that you didn't like to keep secrets...please, don't tell her or Layla anything. I'd prefer to tell them myself."

"...I understand. Are you sure you don't want to sleep?"

"Yes."

"Very well. I'm going back. Goodnight." Fushigi left and went back upstairs to where the others were sleeping.

Inside the infirmary, Mira listened in, thinking to herself.

'...She can't fall asleep? What did I do?'

 **X**

Early on in the morning, Mira opened everything up and found Nova asleep at the table.

"Hey...wake up. It's morning." She said soothingly, rubbing her daughter's back. There was no response until 30 seconds later, when she flung upwards, breathing rapidly.

"Nova! What's wrong?!" Mira asked. She slowly turned to her right, coming face to face with her mother, and falling out of her chair, scurrying away as fast as possible. Mira's looked changed from one of confusion to one of concern when she saw the terrified look in the young woman's eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"...Yes. I'll be alright." She sighed, looking down and catching her breath.

"Nova, you're clearly not alright. Night Terrors?"

"Yes…"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. If I do, you'll just become scared yourself. Trust me, you're better off not knowing." She left it at that, going back up to their room to change. Mira looked down sadly before deciding to just continue opening the guild.

About an hour later, everyone was awake and chatting, ready to go out and spend the day in the town.

Throughout the day, Nova still remained at a distance from where the others were, deciding to watch rather than participate in the games, food and drink, and music. Later on during the evening, there were fireworks over the river. As the explosions of color increased in size and extravagance, everyone seemed to be in awe of it. Nova couldn't help it. She finally smiled, for the first time since they got there.

But it was short lived. For a few moments, the fireworks seemed to fade out, and her senses were overcome by a certain voice, calling out to her.

"Ah...so you are here, after all."

"You…"

"Come to me, Nova...don't you want revenge? Look at you, watching this. This isn't how Magnolia is supposed to look, is it?" Her eyesight became blurry as the town flickered into ruin, fire spreading up everywhere, and all of the people dead in various positions. The river had become so bloody that it was no longer blue at all.

"Hah...Hah…"

"There, that's better, isn't it? I'll be in the forest later tonight should you want to catch up. I'll be waiting~" She laughed, and the voice faded away, and so did the illusion. But that didn't stop Nova from hyperventilating. Fushigi turned around to check on her before her eyes widened.

She saw it again. That "thing" mutilate her father and the rest of her friends.

"Nova! Calm down!" Fushigi ran to her as she fell backwards.

"I can't...Mo...ther…" Everything went dark.

 **X**

"Tell us."

"No."

"You need to! Can't you see how far this has escalated?! She hyperventilated and blacked out!"

"I said no!"

"Why?! Your friend is hurt, and this information would help us to stop whoever's doing this to her! So what happened?!" Layla was silenced by Fushigi swiftly slamming her against the wall with one of her claws pointed at her chest. Her eyes had changed to their snake form, and she had a deadly red aura around her.

"It is not my place to say. Tomorrow, when she's better, I will drag her out of there and make her tell you herself, but until then, back off. What happened to her is something that I can't even imagine myself." Everything was quiet as she slowly backed up, releasing her magic, then walking to the infirmary to stay with her friend.

Layla sighed, defeated.

"Mom, are you alright?" Lucy asked quietly.

"Yes, I'll be fine. I'm just worried about what's going on with Nova. I don't know what happened to her, but it must have been traumatizing. Fushigi's right. We'll just have to wait until tomorrow."

 **X**

Nova snuck out late that night, running through the forest as fast as she could. Not too long after, Fushigi got up, going to the bathroom. When finished, she walked out, yawning sleepily, before finding a note pinned against their door. She rubbed her eyes before muttering the words out loud.

 _Fushigi,_

 _Earlier today, "She" spoke to me, which is why my PTSD acted up again. She's finally here, and I have to be the one to finish this, alone. These nightmares, my mental health, I can't keep doing it anymore. I have to make things how they were, and I have to kill her._

 _I'll be back in the morning._

 _Love, Nova._

"What?! She'll get herself killed!" Fushigi ran and got dressed as fast as possible, before rushing out and heading to Mira's house. Frantically knocking on the door, Mira came to it after about a minute.

"Fushigi? What's wrong? Why are you here?" She scratched her head.

"It's Nova. She's gone off and I need your help."

'Faster. Faster!' The blonde girl jumped from tree branch to tree branch, trying to lock onto that sinister magic power and get there as fast as she could.

"She went off and did what?!" Mira screamed, the two beginning to run through the woods as well.

"She feels responsible for these attacks, and wants to make things right by fighting their leader herself. But she's being reckless! She's no match for her right now, especially with both her physical and mental strength as depleted as they are!"

"For her to go after The Conqueror on her own…"

"Huh? You guys are still using her alias? How come?" Fushigi asked questioningly.

"Because we don't know her real name yet. Nova never told us!"

"WHAT?! She didn't even tell you that much?! Oh boy...we can't wait any longer, I'll just have to tell you. But you're not going to like it."

Mira looked at her intently, as Fushigi sighed and closed her eyes for a moment before looking right into Mira's.

"The Conqueror...her real name is...Mirajane Strauss...she's a different version of you."

"Finally. It's about time that you got here." Nova gritted her teeth, landing down in a clearing where across from her stood the very object of her vengeance.

"...Mother."

 **End.**


	3. Mother's Betrayal

**Fair warning, this chapter gets pretty graphic and can be disturbing to some. It also discusses deep psychological trauma, so it's not such a happy one, just letting you know. Enjoy, nonetheless.**

 **Songs**

 **Anti-Mirajane: Satsujinsha no Me (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Nova vs. Anti-Mira: Madara Uchiha Theme (Naruto Shippuden OST)**

 **Anti-Mira Defeats Nova: Soundscape to Ardor (Bleach OST)**

 **Nova's Nightmare: Never Meant to Belong (Bleach OST)**

 **Mira Meets Anti-Mira: Shuhan (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Mira vs. Anti-Mira: Kimi wo Koete (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Nova's Condition: Kimimaro's Theme (Naruto OST)**

 **Mira and Nova Reconcile: Watashi Kara Kimi e (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Anti-Mira's True Identity: The Black Knight Lives (Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn OST)**

 **Road to Anti-Mira: A Song for Bygone Days (Fire Emblem Echoes Shadows of Valentia OST)**

 **Silver Suggests Training: Jidai wa Atsuatsu (My Hero Academia OST)**

 **Vs. Steel: Sendai no Meiyuu (My Hero Academia OST)**

"What do you mean she's me?! How is that possible?!"

"I don't know, that's the one thing Nova never told me. Apparently, she's not the you from our time, she's different altogether. But right now, we have to focus on stopping Nova from fighting her! She's no match!"

"Right!" Mira shook her questions out of her head, they'd have to wait for later.

 **X**

"...Mother. Or no, I shouldn't say that. You're not her."

"Oh, I don't know about that. I'm more like her than you'd care to admit."

"Yeah, right. You're nothing alike. She's the kindest person I know, and you're the scourge of the gods."

"The gods are nothing compared to me, and you'd do well to remember that. I am the most powerful mage to ever live. Even the likes of Isabella Heartfilia would fall before me."

"If that's the case, then why bother with someone as miniscule as myself?"

"Have I not explained this before? I've taken an interest in you. I never had any children of my own, and so I like to watch you grow and become stronger."

"Only to fight me time and time again for your own amusement? You know damn well why you didn't have any kids. You could have stayed with him, and been happy, but…"

"I do not regret my decision at all. I became unhappy in Fairy Tail after our return from Olympus. Why stay there? All of them were holding me back, so I got rid of them."

"You are one sick twisted individual! You murdered them all and burned the city to the ground!"

"It felt so….good!" She wasted no more time and rushed to Nova, beginning to unleash a barrage of punches and kicks to her, knocking her back through the trees.

"Take Over Lightning Soul!" Nova allowed yellow lightning to course through her veins before enhancing it to purple. In a blinding flash of light, she sped over to her opponent and attempted to rush her, however, every one of her strikes was easily blocked, and she was kneed in the stomach before the dark version of Mira tossed her into the air and jumped up, kicking her back into a tree once again.

"You know, before I came here, I heard from some people back in your time that you and your friends are calling me Anti-Mira. I like it, it has a nice ring to it. After all, I'm never going back to the way I was before." She smirked, as Nova slowly stood back up again.

"Come on, don't you have something good for me? This is going just the same as last time~ Scratch that, I was holding back last time."

"You want something good…?" Nova snarled. Her magic power increased, and her lightning changed color again to red, becoming stronger than it already was.

"Ooh, that's what Laxus and Yury used to use." her eyes widened in excitement.

"That's right...I developed this level...the third...for him…"

"I see...unfortunately for you, it won't be enough. As powerful as Yury is, he's not invincible."

"Says the person who was traumatized by him." Nova grinned.

"And then killed him. It makes little difference to me who my opponent is anymore." Nova gritted her teeth and went at her again, attempting to land a blow. But she was once again unsuccessful, as Anti-Mira blocked her punch with a single hand and rammed her up against a tree, crushing her throat.

"'Lightning that goes beyond lightning', huh...how laughable." Nova's arms fell limply to her side, trying to reach up and grab her wrists, but Anti-Mira noticed this and just put more pressure into her hold, choking her harder. Blood began to run out from Nova's mouth.

"Don't you see the futility of this? To fight someone like me? You're way out of your league. Stick to your little baby S-Class Wizards. You claim that I'm not like your mother, but every time you look at her, you can't help but see me, can you?"

"She's…"

"You're worried, aren't you? That it's possible that she becomes like me. After all, timelines can become parallel to each other, can't they?"

"I have...faith that she won't...become you…" Anti-Mira sighed, smiling and shaking her head.

"You say these things, but you don't believe them. Perhaps I need to remind you how hopeless a fight against me will become?" she grinned maniacally.

"No...No, please…!" She cried out, looking terrified.

"Too late." She cut her off. Their eyes locked, and Nova's perception of reality became warped, as space bended around, returning her to that moment.

She didn't need to look around, she knew what had happened. The guild was in flames, and every single member was dead, their bodies littered around the rubble, while the floor was covered in blood stains. She also knew what was going to happen. She looked up, all of the life and joyfulness drained from her eyes, seeing Laxus' head pushed towards the ground by Anti-Mira.

"Why...did you do this…?" he coughed.

"This is the only way I could truly 'ascend.' Olympus opened up my eyes, you see. This guild has done nothing but hold me back, and all of you are merely hindrances keeping me from reaching my true potential." She bent down and picked him up by the throat, his eyes staring into her lifeless ones.

"Mira...please stop this…"

"I never loved you." She cut him off rather quickly and forcefully before impaling him with her hand and literally ripping his heart out of his body, dropping the cold, inert carcass onto the floor, allowing it to be consumed by the flames as well. Mira looked down at the still beating heart in her hands before crushing it in her grip, causing the pulse to cease.

"Ah...that was refreshing." she smiled, holding her former fiancee's nonfunctional core over her head and shaking her hair back and forth as the blood fell and stained it, dripping down her face as she tasted each drop on her tongue. Finally finished with the now useless body part, she threw it into the flames and walked out of the building, smirking as she watched the blaze consume the place she once called home. She closed her eyes and walked through the town, passing by more bodies along the way, all of the citizens who lived there until recently.

"Magnolia...Population: Zero." She grinned maniacally, Laxus' blood continuing to glide down her face. The scene faded out, and Nova found herself back in the real world, but by this point, she had already lost consciousness.

"How sad...it seems that I broke you. I guess you weren't really worth anything after all. I've lost interest in you. Now then...it only seems fitting that I kill you the same way I killed your father, right?" she giggled, readying her hand in the same position.

"Daylight Goddess' Javelin!" Anti-Mira looked to her left and let go of Nova, dodging the golden weapon that was just thrown at her.

"Nova!" Fushigi jumped down and cradled her body, trying to heal her. Mira landed across from her alternate self, her eyes widened in shock, seemingly out of breath. Anti-Mira smiled and looked at her.

"Well...look who it is."

"Who...are you?"

"Oh, come on, why ask a dumb question like that? It's obvious that I'm you. And you're me."

"Yes, but how...is that possible? After all, Fushigi said that...you're not the me from their future."

"And she'd be right. I'm not. If you want answers, just ask your miserable excuse for a daughter there. I'm not handing you all of the answers on a silver platter." she smirked.

"What did you call her?" Mira asked angrily.

"You heard me. Daylight Goddess' Pistol." She snickered, forming a golden gun in her hand, then cocking it back and shooting Nova with magic bullets before the weapon evaporated into mere particles.

"You…!" Mira ran towards her, but before she could do anything, Anti-Mira was already standing behind her, grabbing her arms and restraining her by pulling them back, while kicking her down onto her knees.

"Kh-!" Tears began to form in Mira's eyes from the pain.

"Not a good idea. You're not strong enough to fight me just yet. Just a little more, and I can easily break your arms. Observe." She pulled back harder, and upon hearing two loud cracks, Fushigi gasped, and Mira cried out agony.

"I'm bored. I guess I should be getting back to the others anyhow. See you later." She smirked, giving Mira a swift strike to the back of her head, knocking her out. She looked at Fushigi before jumping off further through the forest.

"Don't die on me...stay with me…please…" Fushigi pleaded, carrying both of them back to the guild.

 **X**

How strange...there was no pain anymore...As Mira woke up, she figured she'd be out of commission for a while, but that was apparently not the case. Her arms were working again, and seemed fine. Someone must have healed her, but who? As far as she knew, god healing magic could only close wounds and restore magic power, as long as it was a holy magic spell, not fix broken bones. In any case, she slowly got up and went out into the guild.

"Mira!" They all shouted happily, running over to her and hugging her.

"Hey...what happened?" She looked over at Fushigi, who was sitting alone at one of the tables.

"Yury came in and healed you. He's upstairs talking with Nova and Layla right now." She said worriedly.

"I see…do you all know? About her?" Mira asked, looking down. The others gave a slow nod in response.

"Why didn't you tell me? I should be the first person to know!"

"It wasn't up to me. Nova was in charge while I was gone, and she thought...well...I guess she never would have found the strength to tell you…"

"Fushigi. What happened to her? Is this the reason why she keeps her distance from me?"

"No, it's not. After all, the others are under her control, but you didn't see us hesitate to fight them. Nova's situation is different from the rest of ours. But like I said before, that's not for me to tell. If you want to know the details, go ask her yourself. After all, that's what those two are trying to find out now." She nodded up to the closed door on the second floor. They waited around for a few minutes before the door opened, and Layla walked out with a very concerned face. She looked down at MIra and Fushigi, waving them up. The two obeyed, slowly walking up the stairs and into the bedroom, Layla closing the door behind her.

"Nova…?" Mira gasped, looking at the poor girl. She was lying in bed, but her eyes were drained of all color, and she simply stared up at the ceiling blankly.

"She's still unconscious."

"And you haven't closed her eyes? I can't stand to look at her this way…" she whispered.

"She won't do it. She's forcing her eyes open, even like this."

"Nova…" Fushigi mumbled.

"Sit down, please." They all sat in chairs as Layla sighed, looking at the two of them.

"She'll be awake soon enough, but I wanted to talk about her condition before she comes back, so that she doesn't try to interfere with us not knowing. I did both a physical and psychological examination on her, using memory transfer magic to look at some of her past experiences. And what I found was very unsettling."

Fushigi gulped, looking down.

"This person, Anti-Mira, as she's calling her, is almost the exact opposite of you. She's brutal, ruthless, and even cannibalistic. She seems to enjoy inflicting pain on others and watching them suffer."

"That's horrible...did you find out how she ended up that way?"

"No, I didn't. Nova has sealed off a lot of her memories, albeit unintentionally, since one of them is overpowering the others, and comes to the forefront rather easily." She sighed again, looking at Mira before shifting her eyes over to the blonde haired girl.

"I'm afraid I harshly underestimated the severity of the situation. When Nova first fought against her back in her own time, she was shown something: one of Anti-Mira's own memories."

"What was it?" Mira asked cautiously.

"...The destruction of Fairy Tail by her own hands. Since I saw it too, the scene she was shown was of Anti-Mira mutilating every member of the guild along with every living citizen of Magnolia Town. There were blood stains everywhere, the bodies of everyone laid across the rubble of the building, along with fire covering everything. And amidst all of that, she saw her kill Laxus by ripping his heart out of his body and showering herself with his blood, along with tasting it, like she enjoyed savoring her fiancee's gore." Layla shuddered. "And from what I can see, she just showed her that same thing again when they confronted each other in the forest."

"I...did that…?" Mira looked absolutely horrified.

"No...you didn't. You're not like her. But this is why Nova's staying away from you." Fushigi explained. "Even though you yourself weren't the one who committed those atrocities, and she knows it too, she still sees her doing that every time she looks at you. You two have the same face after all."

"Nova…" Mira sobbed, looking at the girl while tears began to form in her eyes. They remained quiet for a few minutes before Layla spoke up again.

"Because of this, she has a deeply rooted fear of you, Mirajane. It's a very hellish thing to see at a young age; your own mother killing your father in cold blood and ENJOYING it. I can't even imagine…" Mira's face had become dark, clearly shocked by what she was hearing.

"There's another thing...Fushigi, I think you already knew about this, didn't you?" Layla asked, looking over to her and nodding to Nova.

"Yes...if you're talking about her sleeping condition...ever since she was shown that memory, she's had night terrors about it every time she falls asleep. So, she's been forcing herself to stay awake so she won't have to keep experiencing it. She hasn't slept well in months, she's given herself self-inflicted insomnia." Fushigi said sadly.

"Ungh…" Nova slowly stirred, the life coming back into her eyes.

"Nova! Are you alright?!" Mira sobbed.

"Mother…? Layla, Fushigi? Grandpa Yury? What happened?"

"We'll give you two some time." Layla stood up and left, along with Yury and Fushigi. Once the door was closed, Mira flung herself onto Nova, hugging her tightly.

"Ow...Mom...you're hurting me…"

"Sorry…" She loosened her grip a little bit.

"What happened to me?" She asked slowly, rubbing her eyes.

"You were defeated by...Anti-Mira…" she looked down as Nova's eyes widened, sliding back down into bed.

"While you were sleeping, Layla...looked into your memories to find out why you were so reckless in going off to fight her."

"...I see…..So she told you everything?"

"Yes. Nova, why didn't you tell me?! This all could have been avoided if only you came to me and said who she really was and what she did to you!"

"...How could I? I wanted help so many times, but it always seemed like such an impossibility to me. Fushigi was the first and only one I ever told, you know. But against that kind of strength, even she was helpless. So she suggested coming back here. And now we are, but...seeing your face just reminded me of her...I didn't tell anybody because I didn't have the strength to bring it up again myself. I'm sorry…"

"It's alright. I don't blame you at all, dear. After all, with what you went through, having to see that twice, I can only imagine how frightened that would make you. But in some ways, I can relate."

"You can?" She laughed softly. "But nothing like this has ever happened to you, right?" Mira smiled before looking down.

"I guess my future self never told you then? I'm guessing she must be far past it in your time, but here, it's only been a year. During the war with Alvarez, before we went up into Olympus, I fought against both Yury and Layla. When I first met him, his magic power eclipsed mine in such a wide margin that I became traumatized by it as well, just the same as you. And as he was about to kill me, your father jumped in and saved my life."

Nova remained silent, listening intently.

"Although we both lost in the end, were it not for him, I would not be here now, and you would not exist. Not long after, I was confronted by Layla, and foolishly attacked her, and was seemingly killed until Zeref had her revive me. While the rest of the war went on, I focused more on the enemies in front of me, but once it was all over, these events came back, and I had to go to therapy sessions to help me get over my fears. Currently, it doesn't bother me anymore, now that after my training with Hemera, I'm closer to their level of strength. If I did have to fight them again, I wouldn't be as outclassed as I was the first time. But somewhere deep inside me, I still fear them. I'm not perfect, Nova. As strong as we are, there will always be someone stronger."

"Yes, but...oh my god, I hate to say this, but...if Grandpa Yury had killed you that time, and I didn't exist, then that would mean that she wouldn't exist either…"

"Nova!" Mira stepped back.

"I know, I know, it was a stupid thing to say! But isn't it true?"

"Nova." Mira sighed, smiling and placing her hand against the girl's cheek. "You are going to get your happy ending. Never think of either you or I as a mistake again, got it?"

"...Yeah, I got it." She smiled back at her mother. "I'm sorry for staying away from you. I love you, Mom." She said with tears in her eyes.

"I love you too, Nova." She leaned in and kissed her forehead, hugging her tightly, as Nova finally returned the embrace for the first time in months.

"You should get some rest now." Mira said, as they pulled away.

"I don't want to have that dream again though…" Nova mumbled.

"You won't. I'll be right here with you so it won't happen."

"...Okay." Both of them smiled at each other.

 **X**

"They're both sleeping right now. We'll give them some time alone." Yury sighed, sitting down at the head of the guild.

"So what happened to her? Or do you not want us to know still?" Storm asked.

"No, at this point, I'd say you should. After all, you already know about Anti-Mira." Yury and Layla explained Nova's condition to everyone in the guild.

"How awful...to have to see that." Juvia shook her head.

"Her own mother do that to her?" Erza asked. Lucy glanced at her mother, remembering how it felt when she first found out that almost everything that she knew about her was false. But that was different. Layla still loved her, and was still a compassionate person, if a little misguided at the time. This was just barbaric and sickening.

"In any case, now that Mira knows what really happened, they might be able to work something out between them. But dealing with something like this is not easy. After all, Mira's own therapy sessions went on for months before she finally felt comfortable enough to begin training." Silver explained.

"Although this is different. Even though it wasn't really her mom who did this, it's a version of Mira, so it's extremely haunting to see the person who gave you life and cared for you to betray you and kill everyone you've ever loved." Layla responded. They all turned as the door to the infirmary opened, and Future Gray, Kinana, and Erik all stepped out.

"Ugh...what did we miss?" They asked, rubbing their eyes sleepily.

"Gray-sama, you shouldn't try to move so much yet!" Future Juvia ran over to him and helped him walk.

"Thanks…" They went and sat down near the kids as the twins ran up and hugged him.

"Mom…!" Fushigi sobbed as she ran to her parents and buried herself into them, the hug happily returned.

"I'm so proud of you, Fushigi." Kinana kissed her, holding her close. She looked up to her dad who grinned at her. She smiled back.

"I guess now...we just have to wait for Nova to wake up. After all, she's the only one who really knows who Anti-Mira is. Unless you three remember something?" Layla asked them. They all shook their heads.

"She never said anything to us. Just showed up out of the blue and attacked. I think the only other one besides Nova who knows who she is are our own Mira and Laxus. But we don't know where they are, and they're incredibly powerful, far stronger than us." Future Kinana explained.

"So then we'll just have to wait…"

 **X**

They bided their time, and when Nova awoke again about 5 hours later, she felt well-rested for the first time in forever. She looked to her right, finding her mother lying with her. She smiled and sighed, thinking that maybe things were finally getting better between the two.

"Hey...any nightmares?" Mira asked upon stirring.

"No...none." She chuckled.

"That's my girl." She hugged her before they began to sit up and stretch.

"I guess everyone's been waiting for us for a while now. We should go see them. Nova?" Mira looked over to her daughter, who was clenching her fist, and summoning some of her magic power. A massive shockwave blew through the room and shattered the window as red lightning coated her body. Mira had to shield herself as her hair blew around wildly. Nova, realizing what was going on, stopped, and as her magic died down, she grinned at her mother, who stood there, shocked.

"I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in so long...I forgot how much magic power and stamina I was losing by staying awake for so long. I'm almost back at my full power now!"

"T-That's good…" Mira smiled at her, brushing her hair aside.

'Wow...even before, when she fought Gray, her strength was comparable to Gildarts...and now...it's just incredible...I guess that's what happens when someone of Laxus' and my own calibers have a child…'

"Oh, the window…" she mumbled, glancing over at the broken glass.

"Layla will fix it, don't worry...let's go downstairs now." The two walked down and explained what happened to Layla. She quickly enveloped the guild into her Night Dimension, and manipulated the window's space so that nothing happened to it.

"What was that shockwave?" Lucy asked.

"That was my magic power." Nova blushed, as everyone else's jaw dropped.

"Your real strength is finally starting to come back to you, is it?" Fushigi asked.

"Yes...I didn't have that nightmare this time...and something tells me I won't be having it again either." She smiled at Mira, who returned the gesture.

"Well that's good. So then, sorry to get straight to the point, but we wanted to know about Anti-Mira. Whatever you can tell us." Layla said.

"No, I understand. I'll tell you everything I know." She sat down next to Mira and sighed. "Anti-Mira, as we call her, is a version of Mom from an alternate future."

"Alternate...future?" Lucy asked.

"Ah, yes. I remember learning about that from Hemera." Mira began. "In the previous world, some scientists researched what's known as Multiverse Theory. The theory was that there are other infinite universes parallel to ours that operate on the same timeframe, but have a different chronological timeline. It's kind of like Edolas. If you think of it as one of the parallel universes, then it's one where we all exist, but don't have magic inside of us, and therefore live in a more primitive society than here, and utilize magic weapons as our main form of combat."

"Right. Well, Multiverse Theory is true. I don't know if there's really infinite universes, but I know that for sure, there's one other one besides ours. This second universe is where Anti-Mira originates. When I first fought against her back in our time, I asked her how it was possible that there were two different Miras that existed at once. In her own words, she's a version of her that, following the events of Olympus, focused extensively on her training, much more than normal. She studied so much that she spent no time with everyone else, and closed herself off. She became fascinated at everything that she discovered and researched, which led her to create Antimatter Magic as part of an experiment. As she puts it, this magic 'opened her eyes and showed her the truth', but all it really did was corrupt her mind to the point of no return. It gave her a god complex, like Isabella had, but she's much more dangerous since unlike her, she's bloodthirsty, and revels in the pain she causes and the damage she deals, either physically or psychologically."

"But how is such a drastic change possible? When my mother fused with Chaos, she retained her personality for a whole four years before she became influenced by him. But her extent was to end war, even if she went about it the wrong way."

"Well, this does the opposite. Antimatter Magic's very nature is to reject everything it comes into contact with. And that includes my mother. Her personality did a complete 180, and as far as I know, her only goal is to destroy and conquer, which is how she got her alias. When she discovered Antimatter, it took control of her mind and body immediately, and thanks to her personality complex, she began to believe that she had the ultimate power as a mage, and that the only way to become stronger was to conquer the world and the universe itself. She thought that the guild and everyone in it was holding her back, and that she needed to 'cleanse herself of their filth', as she put it."

"What a disgusting person." Erza said outright, before everyone glared at her.

"O-Oh, Mira, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-!"

"No. No, you're right. The more I hear about her the more I realize that she is an abhorrent person. So then, Nova...I assume that's when she…?"

"Yes." She clenched her fists. "Again, I suppose it seems a bit unrelatable for the rest of you, but it was very real for me, since she showed me her memory of the night that the guild and all of Magnolia was slaughtered and burned. After that, she went to Olympus and challenged the gods. I assume she found a way to kill them, because she stated that she was able to use Chaos to destroy her universe, and cross over to this one, arriving in our future, and now coming back in time to this year."

"She 'used' Chaos?" Layla asked.

"What are you thinking about, Grammy?" Nashi asked. Everyone turned their attention to Layla.

"There's a few details about her story that I find peculiar."

"You think I'm lying?" Nova asked.

"No, not in that way. I meant peculiar in the sense that her magic is different from all the rest. Fist off, you said that she was able to go to Olympus. That tells me that she has the ability to travel between dimensions, though I should be the only one apart from the gods with that kind of power."

"She is from the future, though…" Natsu mentioned.

"Not quite. In her time, it's the same year as here, X793. So, if she was able to kill the me in that universe, she either somehow took my powers or had them already as one of Antimatter's perks."

"I think it's the first one. When you go to a different dimension, you open two portals, right?" Nova asked.

"Yes. She doesn't do that?"

"No. She just vanishes very quickly and crosses the distance like it's nothing."

"I see. Yes, I certainly can't do that. So that's one question answered. Now for the second. You said that she found a way to kill the gods and use Chaos to destroy the universe. I wonder if she killed them with Chaos powers or without. If it's the latter, then that means that this magic is able to slay even the divine, which is bad news for us. Also, if she used Chaos to destroy the universe, it would mean that she destroyed him as well, since the worlds will still exist as long as he's there. But that would mean that she avoided fusing with him, which is another unanswered question."

"Those I don't know. We'd have to find out from her."

"Then there's two more aspects to this that I'm curious about. She was able to cross universes, as well as choose what point in time that she wanted to arrive in, and then travel back in time when the need arose. She was also able to use her magic to take control of the souls of our members, and make them fight for her. In many ways, her magic is similar to my mother's, but it also appears to be extremely different, and in some aspects, more powerful with fewer restrictions on how you can use it in conjunction with the space time continuum."

"And in english?" Gray asked. Layla sighed.

"It means that she doesn't need to worry about ripping apart reality as much as my mother did. While Isabella was immortal and practically invincible, there were some rules that she had to obey, she said so herself. She wanted to erase the world, but she couldn't just do that, or the gods would try to usurp and punish her. However, Anti-Mira has no such restrictions on her, as evidenced by her destroying her own reality. Nova, that's all you know, right?"

"Yes. She didn't reveal everything to me. But like I said, my mom probably knows more about her. It's also possible that some of the others might know something." 

"Alright then. So who does she still have with her?" Layla asked Fushigi.

"She'll have Erza and Jellal, Natsu and Lucy, Mira and Laxus, and Yury, Silver, and you. Those will be her strongest. But...as we are now, I don't think we'd do well in a fight against them. Maybe we'd stand a chance against the first two pairs, but against the rest, we'd be slaughtered."

"Yes...considering how strong Anti-Mira is, I figured as much. Even though Nova was at her weakest, she was still stronger than a standard S-Class Mage, and was taken out extremely easily. We have to get stronger."

"...I have an idea." Silver spoke up. Everyone looked to him.

"It occurs to me that for the past year or so, in the Alvarez and Olympus Wars, training or advancing was focused on making our magic stronger. Which, at the time, made sense, considering that our opponents were mostly the same. After all, God Magics are powerful because of their magical properties. But now...we've more or less reached the peak of how strong our magic can get. So we need to focus on increasing our physical and mental strengths, as well as our stamina. And I know someone who can help do that for us."

"Oh! Are you...really sure about that? Who knows just how much he'll beat us up?" Layla asked.

"That's why he's the perfect one for the job. He'll push us beyond our limits."

"Who are you talking about?" Gray asked.

"My father, Steel."

"What?! He's still alive?!" Gray yelled.

"What do you mean? Of course he is, why wouldn't he be?"

"I mean...I don't know, you just never said anything about him before."

"That doesn't mean he's dead, idiot." Silver sighed.

"But wait a minute...even if he's still alive, wouldn't he be like 70 years old?" Juvia asked.

"Yeah, but he can use Age Magic, so it doesn't really matter. Even in his old age, he's still as tough as nails. I'm going to tell you now, he's stronger than most of us, including most envoys. The only ones who are probably stronger than him are Yury, Layla, a few of the envoys in the past, and the gods. He's mastered practically every kind of magic that there is."

"Does that mean that he pulls an August and just copies and reflects our attacks, or has he actually mastered all of these magics?" Cana asked.

"He's actually mastered them. So he'll be much tougher to fight. I don't want to take everyone there. Some of you need to stay here and guard the guild as well. I'd recommend that any of you who plan on actively participating in the upcoming fights should go, and of course, family members. Of course Layla and I are going, who else wants to?"

"Me obviously, and Fushigi." Nova counted herself and her friend too.

"We should, and bring Storm and the twins along with us." Both Future Gray and Juvia added.

"Us too. It'll probably help explain the situation." Gray and Juvia from the past agreed.

"I guess we should go too." Mira said to Laxus, who nodded.

"And us." Natsu and Lucy said.

"Are you coming too?" Layla asked Yury. He shook his head.

"Someone has to be in charge while you're gone. I can't bail you out every time." He laughed.

"Fair enough. I guess we should get going then." Layla stood up and opened a portal, and the others followed her through, arriving just outside the town where she and Silver grew up.

"This is where you grew up?" Lucy asked.

"Yes. It's a nice pleasant little place. Fortunately for us, my father never moved out of this village, so I knew exactly where to find him. If he had left, it would have been a lot harder."

"Wouldn't he have sent you a letter or something though?" Storm asked.

"Well, he knew that I was brought back to life after Deliora, and again after Tartaros. He was one of the first ones I let know. However, I told him in person each time. I decided that we should cut contact for a bit, since it was possible that Gray or someone else could have found out about my life, which I didn't want until it was necessary." They continued walking for a bit until reaching the last house at the edge of town.

"So this is it?" Lucy asked. In the distance was a large, 3 story house that looked like a small mansion. It was white with a light red trim. Next to it was a large blank space, where it seemed like a house should be, but wasn't. There were some black marks across the ground.

"And that's…?" She asked pointing.

"That's where I used to live." Layla said.

"As I thought…Why didn't you ever return it to the way it was?"

"Some things should remain in the past." They began to walk towards Steel's house, and stopped as they found themself blocked by a magic barrier.

"Huh? A barrier? Here?" Silver asked.

"Well well, look who finally came back to visit!" A rough voice called out to them. Looking to the deck, a man was sitting in a rocking chair. He wore blue plants and a blue shirt, and had spiky gray hair.

"Hey, Dad." Silver called out. "What's with the barrier?"

"It's a test. You want to train here? Then your first test is to reach the front door!"

"How did he know?" Storm asked.

"He probably has some kind of psychic magic that lets him sense the motives of others. Oh well. Let's play his game." Silver gathered wind and ice magic into his fist and punched the barrier as hard as he could, causing lightning to spark off of it. However, it wasn't broken.

"That thing wasn't even weakened."

"Let me try." Layla stepped forward and punched it as well, but it remained where it was.

"Hmm…"

"There's got to be some kind of trick to it, physical force won't do anything." Silver pointed out.

"It's a barrier that he created, right? Maybe it has something to do with our family?" Gray thought. He stepped up to it, along with Storm, and the three of them punched it at the same time, finally succeeding in dispelling it.

"Hm. Not bad." Steel smirked. "But don't think that's the extent of this." He stood up and walked off of the deck, standing on the ground now, guarding the steps to the inside of the house.

"Alright then. I suppose the real test starts now." He activated aging magic, his appearance changing and his age receding, now appearing at his young 30s, probably when his prime was. His hair had changed to cobalt blue, a typical trait of the Fullbuster family.

"Requip." His outfit changed as well, becoming a silver plated armor along with a purple cape.

"We shouldn't waste any time." Silver took the lead, beginning to run towards the entrance.

"I don't think so." Without moving his upper body, Steel lifted one of his feet and stomped it back on the ground, creating a shockwave that cracked it, splitting the earth and shocking everyone. All of them dived out of the way, stopping their advance.

"Not bad." He waved his foot over the crack, resetting the ground as it shook. "Now let's try some of this." He repeated his previous motion, and a wave of spikes shot up and started barreling towards the others.

"What kind of magic is this?!" They dodged again.

"He's a Grandmaster of Earth Magic!" Silver told them.

"Well in that case…" Nova used Take Over Lightning Soul and slammed her palm onto the ground, channeling red electricity that broke the spikes. She then rushed towards him and threw a punch, connecting with his head, but he didn't even budge nor flinch.

"What…?!"

"Lightning Magic is quite effective against Earth Magic, true, but...when you've mastered as many kinds of Earth Magic as I have, then almost nothing can hurt you anymore. My strength, my durability, my stamina, are practically at superhuman levels. None of you can even scratch me, even if you do connect."

"Night Goddess' Artemis!" Layla fired her most powerful arrow, and Steel stomped onto the ground again, a giant wall forming and stopping it in its tracks.

"Even your arrows won't work. Now then...I suppose I should start getting serious."

"Oh really? Then so should I." Nova and Steel grinned at each other.

 **End.**


	4. Do You Trust Me?

**Songs**

 **Nova vs. Steel: Ultimate Secrets (Naruto OST)**

 **Talking with Steel: Malediction (Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia OST)**

 **Training Begins: Kaen Ranbu (Fairy Tail OST)**

 **Anti-Mira Arrives: Nine Demon Gates Arawaru (Fairy Tail OST)**

 **Vs. Erza & Jellal: The Sacrifice and the Saint (Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia OST)**

 **Nova and Fushigi Play: Cinema Paradiso Love Theme (Ennio & Andrea Morricone) [Performed by Yo-Yo Ma, Ennio Morricone, & Roma Sinfonietta]**

"Now then...I suppose I should start getting serious."

"Oh really. Then so should I. Take Over: Lightning Soul." Nova powered up her lightning to red, and then went even further, changing its color to light blue.

"Oh? It changed color." He grinned.

"Yes...my lightning soul is affected by my emotions. It's built on the love I have for my family. My first stage, yellow, is just utilizing basic lightning magic. The second stage, purple, is for the love I have for my father. The third stage, red, is for the love I have for Grandpa Yury. And the fourth stage, blue, is for the love I have for Layla." She rushed towards him again, but he caught her by her foot and tossed her back to the ground. Getting up again, she slammed her palm into the ground, sending a current of blue lightning at Steel, who created another earth shield, blocking it.

"Lightning Dragon's Roar!" She blasted blue lightning out of her mouth towards him, and it broke through his shield and hit him in the chest, sending him flying back. She then took the opportunity to dash towards the front door, Steel reaching out to grab her foot, but Silver stepped on his hand to allow her to win. Touching the front door, she cheered, looking back at him confidently.

"Alright. I'll concede. Good job. You have quite the up and coming mage here, Silver."

"Yes. She is actually...well, I suppose we should tell you inside."

 **X**

"So, they are all from the future. I see. This Anti-Mira character took over the guild?"

"Yes. She is in possession of their souls. Their bodies are shells until we wipe her magic and influence from their bodies." Nova explained to him.

"And you want me to train you?" Steel looked over at Layla and Silver questioningly.

"Yes. Rather than focus on our magic, we'd rather raise our physical strength." She looked at him.

"Come on, it will be just like the old days." Silver laughed.

"Hmm…" He rubbed his chin. "It's tempting to kick your asses around here again, but let's get one thing straight. I won't be joining your group for this fight after the training is finished. I'm too old to fight someone like you guys with my full strength. Even what I showed you outside took its toll on me. It's not easy living the life of a mage for me nowadays."

"I didn't expect you to, Old Man." Silver sighed.

"Was there anyone in particular you wanted me to focus on? I imagine that the two of you already have your physical strength pretty high up there."

"I suppose…"

"Me. Please help me." Nova interrupted, prompting the others to look at her.

"Are you sure you want to be fighting that much after what just happened?" Mira asked, worried.

"I need to be the one to kill her." She looked at her mother, determined, making Mira close her eyes in understanding.

"Very well. We'll begin tomorrow. You may all stay for the night."

 **X**

It was only sunrise, yet Nova found herself awake already, walking over to the window and peeking through the blinds. Yawning and rubbing her eyes, she went into the bathroom, changing into black yoga pants and a blue tank top. Making sure to be quiet, she put her shoes on and stepped outside, stretching.

"Going somewhere?"

Nova yelped and looked to her left where Layla was, wearing a similar outfit but with a purple top.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sneak up on you? I was just standing here."

"You know what I mean. I'm going for a run. Are you joining me?"

"Yeah, why not?" The two began to take a lap around the village, eventually reaching the bench and the waterfall at the edge of town.

"You took me here when I was little to tell me about Isabella and how you and Silver became friends." Nova explained, the two sitting down together.

"Did you have any nightmares?" Layla asked after a few minutes.

"...Yes. But not the usual one."

"Hm? A new one?"

"Yes. And I only had it once. I woke up and went back to sleep without any other disturbances after."

"What was it about?"

"It was short...I was a little girl… and my mom kissed me on the nose like she always used to do...then she started to walk away from me. I ran after her, but no matter how much I call her she doesn't respond, and no matter how fast I am, I can't catch up to her. Eventually, she stops. Without turning around, she tells me that everything will be okay and that I must trust her. She doesn't do anything else unless I answer, and if I say something unrelated, she'll ask again. Finally, I say that I trust her, and she turns around, corrupted by Antimatter magic, and repeats her statement. Then it ended, and I woke up."

"Hm...it appears that your dreams are now focusing on your own mother rather than Anti-Mira. That's a good start. And at least you're sleeping again."

"Yes. Layla...what if we aren't strong enough to defeat her…?"

"Well, isn't that why we're going to start training here?"

"Yes, but...Antimatter magic is...so different from everything else we know…" 

"Nova. I want you to look at me. We'll get through this. We survived my mother, we can survive anything. You said your mother used to do this?" Layla leaned in and kissed her nose lightly, making Nova blush, embarrassed.

"You're very cute when you're flustered." Layla giggled, standing up. "We should be getting back. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes."

When the two returned, the others were waking up, Lucy and Mira watching them.

"Good morning, you two." Mira smiled.

"Morning." Nova smiled slightly. "I'm going to shower, I'm sweaty." She ran upstairs, Layla watching with her hand on her hip.

"You went jogging?" Lucy asked.

"Yes. It's good for me. I'm getting old." she laughed.

"Oh, shush." her daughter tapped her shoulder.

 **X**

"Alright Nova, let's see what you've got. Go punch that tree without any magic." Steel said, the others watching, Fushigi, Storm, Gale, Nashi, and Reiki waiting on the sidelines.

She went up to it and got into a fighting stance, reeling her arm back and punching the bark as strong as she could without magic. The tree shook a bit, and she made a bit of a dent, but then seethed and pulled her fist back, holding it.

"Ah, shit!"

"Language, young lady!" Mira scolded from afar, the others laughing. "Must get that from Laxus." She shook her head.

"Crap." She stepped back, looking at Steel nervously.

"Right. The rest of you. Do the same on the other trees." They followed suit, doing as well or worse than her.

"Not bad. Silver. Show them how it's done." He walked up to one of the trees and punched straight through it, making it fall towards the ground. Ice spread out in front of him from his boots, forming a spike that touched the tree before it fell to the ground, freezing it instantly. Stomping his foot, all of the ice shattered, including the tree, before walking back to the side, leaving the others' jaws on the ground.

"When I'm through with you, that's what you'll be able to do. Now let's get started."

Most of the training was sparring with Steel, having them spar with heavy weights on their wrists, which made them significantly slower and weaker, but as a basic training principle, made them significantly stronger and faster once they were removed. After a whole day of training, Mira restored their stamina with her healing spell, and they tried again, this time with each of them being successful.

"I did it...Mom, I did it!" Nova cheered, running over to Mira without thinking.

"I saw! Well done." She smiled at her.

"Yes, well done indeed." They froze when another Mira voice, this one much more malicious, spoke out, standing on the roof of the house, along with two others, their appearances hazed out by her magic.

Nova prepared to jump up, but Mira grabbed her and held her.

"Don't! You're not ready yet." she pleaded.

"Listen to mommy, Nova." Anti-Mira mocked. "I'm not here to fight this time anyways. They are. I have other things to do." She motioned to her two companions.

"Night Goddess' Bow." Layla summoned her spirit weapon and aimed an arrow at Anti-Mira, firing it quickly, and piercing through her chest, but she simply took it out and healed herself, unfazed.

"I'm afraid that won't work. Nothing will. Nice try." She held out her hand and blasted a beam of energy towards Layla, who snapped her fingers and entered her night dimension, countering the beam with one of her own to disperse it. But Anti-Mira had already moved out of the way.

'...She can move in my dimension…..' Layla cancelled her spell and went back to the regular world, not finding her anywhere.

"I suppose she left. We'll have to deal with her later. For now, we have those two."

The two jump down from the house and the magic reveals their faces, adult versions of Erza and Jellal.

"Mom! Dad!" Reiki gasped.

"Meteor." Jellal said emotionlessly, dashing around and attacking all of them, kicking them to the ground.

"She's controlling them more than she did Gray." Silver noted.

"It appears so...Take Over: Lightning Soul!" Nova activated her signature power.

Future Erza requipped into her Rabbit Armor.

"Requip: Ataraxia!" Reiki stepped forward and used her spell, creating a red set of armor with a red coat and black blades rotating around them.

"Mom. Want to join me?" He smirked back at the younger Erza, who smiled, proud of her son.

"Of course." She stepped forward.

"Pleiades!" Jellal cast another spell, creating six swords of light that shot into the sky before falling back down towards them.

"You guys should move away. We'll handle this, and we don't want anyone to get in the way either." Erza ordered. The others complied, moving back inside the house.

"Jiu Leixing!" Jellal created nine swords of lightning this time that he sent towards the others, creating a large explosion upon impact.

When the smoke cleared, Erza had blocked it with her Adamantine Armor, separating the two shields and going into her Rabbit Armor, the same as her future counterpart.

Reiki locked eyes with his father before moving his arms, sending his blades after the mage, who used Meteor to avoid all of them.

Jellal jumped backwards so that he was a fair distance away from everyone, then performed the pose for Sema.

"True Heavenly Body Magic: Sema!" A swirling vortex of clouds began to cover the sky as a giant meteor began to fall towards them.

"Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist!" Nova created a giant fist made out of lightning that was able to break through it.

Jellal used Meteor again to dash away from the house, Nova speeding after him.

"Wait!" Reiki called out.

"Reiki, leave them! She'll win. You and I need to focus on me." Erza reassured him, turning around to her future self, who had requipped to her Nakagami Armor. Young Erza did the same, and the two used Nakagami Starlight against each other, but the older one came out on top, her strength having evolved in the future years. However, her armor broke apart afterwards, leaving her drained of magic.

"Mom! Requip: Celestial Armor!" Reiki donned a golden armor, and created hand seals.

"True Heavenly Body Magic: Grand Chariot!" 21 magic circles appeared in the sky, and rained down light beams upon Future Erza, defeating her.

Nova, meanwhile, activated her Lightning Soul, going up to her red stage, matching Jellal's Meteor and matching blows with him.

"True Heavenly Body Magic: Altairis!" Future Jellal used his most powerful spell, creating an enhanced black hole and sending it spinning towards her.

'I can't stop that one!' Nova backed away.

"Mom!" she called out, Mira hearing her and heading over to her.

"What is it?!"

"Black Hole! I don't have any magic strong enough to break it!"

"Got it!" Mira fired a blast of daylight god energy into the attack, blasting it apart and startling Jellal.

"Daylight Goddess' Purification!" Mira accelerated time and rushed over to Jellal, placing her hand on his chest and blasting purifying energy through him, dispersing the Anti-Matter Magic.

He fell over, and Mira and Nova smiled at each other.

"Let's bring him back to the others."

 **X**

"They're both laid up in the guest bedroom. They'll probably be awake by tomorrow." Steel came downstairs and talked to the others, who were all sitting in the living room.

"I see. Thank you." Fushigi nodded at him.

"So, that's what you meant by stealing their souls, Layla?" Steel sat down in his large armchair.

"Yes. They attack without hesitation and do not recognize their families or comrades."

"How interesting. I wonder what this Antimatter Magic's origin is? Is it possible to ask the gods?"

"I suppose I could...but it would take some time. For now, it would be best for me to remain here, with the other members attacking at random." Layla looked over at Nova and nodded.

"Steel, is that Cello yours?" Fushigi asked suddenly, pointing to the next room, where a cello case was sitting against the wall.

"It was my wife's. Why do you ask?"

"Do you mind if I play it? I didn't get to bring my own back with me."

"You play, do you? Yes, go ahead. You will probably have to tune it."

"That's fine." She went and opened the case, taking it out carefully along with the bow and began to tune it.

"It's in pristine condition. You've been taking care of it, haven't you?"

"Yes, ever since she passed."

"I didn't know you played an instrument." Mira looked at her, her eyes lighting up.

"Yes, of course. Layla made sure that we all learned something. I sing and play cello, Nova sings and plays guitar and piano, Storm plays drums, Gale plays bass and sings, and Nashi plays guitar and sings. Nova, would you like to play piano with me?"

"Sure." She was already sitting on the bench and turned around, opening the piano up.

"What shall we play?"

Nova paused, thinking, before turning to Mira.

"This is a lullaby you used to sing to me every night of your own creation." She turned around and prepared to play. Fushigi took the melody while Nova accompanied her. The two played beautifully. Mira felt her heart flutter, knowing that she would eventually sing this to her daughter to help her sleep. It made her think about everything that Nova had been through, and gave her some sense of relief knowing that this would help her to move past that.

Nova continued to play, watching her fingers move from key to key, avoiding eye contact with Mira. Her mind moved to her memories of her mother humming this for her and then kissing her on the nose like she used to do. But she also couldn't help but move to her new dream as well. Her heart ached to see her real mother again, as much as she loved this younger one.

Finishing, everyone clapped, loving it. Nova looked over at Mira, blushing, avoiding direct eye contact.

"How lovely, Nova. But...now that I know what it sounds like, have you changed the past, or something like that?" Mira asked.

"We changed the past by showing up here in the first place. But we had no other choice. We had to come back. I should be getting to bed now. Sorry." She stood up and went upstairs, looking down on her way there, Mira taking notice.

 **X**

Nova had the dream again, and awoke early that morning, turning over and staring at the ceiling. To the right of her was her mother, still asleep. She sighed, and moved closer to her, snuggling into her. Mira stirred slightly and wrapped her arm around her daughter, comforting her.

"Are you okay?" she mumbled.

"I miss her." Nova whispered.

"I know." Mira kissed Nova's nose, surprising her.

"I know I'm not quite the same, but I'll always love you too, and be here for you, you know."

"Thanks, mom." Nova smiled at her.

 **End.**


End file.
